2022 Year in Review

"FOR BISHKEK AND TASHKENT,
THE CKU EMERGES AS A NEW
CONCRETE LINK TO THE
GREATER EURASIAN MARKETS,
OPENING ACCESS TO REGIONS
SUCH AS SOUTHEAST ASIA,
THE MIDDLE EAST AND
EUROPE."
There are also prospective socio-economic
benefits, including the modernisation of
the countries’ domestic transportation
infrastructure and rail services. Chinese
Deputy Minister of Commerce Wang
Shouwen noted that Beijing is eager to
implement the CKU memorandum and
has pledged to increase Kyrgyz agricultural
imports and to assist in upgrading the
country’s highways and roads.
However, this positive view is not shared by all. Despite
government-level support, some Kyrgyz and Uzbek residents
are sceptical toward the CKU. It is their view that their
countries are included only as a means to an end for China
and co-opted simply out of geography.
Many in Central Asia believe China is more interested
in shipping its own freight through the region,
rather than economically engaging in the host
countries by investing locally or creating jobs.
Former U.S. ambassador to Kyrgyzstan and
Assistant Secretary of State Donald Lu observed
evidence of local resentment of the Chinese
presence in the country, with the view on
the ground being that China is “exploitative,
corrupt, and non-transparent.” Kyrgyz citizens
also fear that Chinese loans create unsustainable
debt and Chinese workers who are flown in
displace jobs for local workers.
Kyrgyzstan watcher Sovetbek Zikirov recognises that
“China is an economic superpower in the region,”
arguing that Bishkek could do little to insist on its
own national interests and needs, instead kowtowing
to Beijing for the ostensible benefits the CKU may bring.
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