China and Central Asia: the state of play

Xinhua’s think tank arm, the Xinhua Institute, released a report on Sunday outlining the achievements and challenges facing China-Central Asia Cooperation.

The report was released on the heels of Xi’s visit to Kazakhstan, where he attended the second China-Central Asia summit, which further elevated the ties between China and the 5 Central Asian countries.

The title of the report is Championing the China-Central Asia Spirit: Achievements, Opportunities and Prospects for Regional Cooperation, and the full text in Chinese can be found here.

This newsletter will pick out some of the key parts of the report to present a concise state of play between China and Central Asian countries.

I Achievements

1. Trade

In recent years, China's economic and trade cooperation with Central Asian countries has risen in both quantity and quality, and China has become the largest trading partner and the main source of investment for Central Asian countries. In 2024, China's total trade with Central Asian countries amounted to 94.8 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 5.4 billion U.S. dollars over the previous year, a growth rate of 7.2%, an increase of hundreds of times compared with the initial 460 million U.S. dollars in the early stage of the establishment of diplomatic relations.

As of December 2024, China's direct investment stock in Central Asian countries exceeded US$17 billion, with cumulative engineering contracting turnover exceeding US$60 billion. Cooperation projects covered oil and gas mining, roads, processing and manufacturing, digital economy, and other fields.

2. Connectivity

The "Angren-Pap" railway tunnel, the longest tunnel in Central Asia built by China, has been completed, ending the history of detouring through other countries for transportation within Uzbekistan and changing the way of travel for tens of millions of people. The China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan Highway crosses the Tianshan Mountains, and the China-Tajikistan-Uzbekistan Highway crosses the Pamir Plateau, continuously weaving a dense cargo trade and transportation network between China and Central Asia, benefiting the people of all countries in the region.

On December 27, 2024, the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan Railway Project was officially launched. The China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan Railway starts from Kashgar, Xinjiang, and enters Uzbekistan through Kyrgyzstan. It can be extended to West Asia and South Asia in the future. After the completion of the project, it will improve the southern passage of the New Eurasian Continental Bridge, forming a convenient transportation channel from East Asia and Southeast Asia to Central Asia, West Asia, North Africa, and Southern Europe.

China and the five Central Asian countries have signed intergovernmental air transport agreements. There are now flights connecting China’s Xi'an with 7 cities of the 5 Central Asian countries.

3. Energy

Central Asian countries are important oil and gas producers, and complement China in terms of resources and industrial structure.

As early as 1997, China National Petroleum Corporation successfully won the bid for the Aktobe oilfield development project in Kazakhstan, marking the beginning of China-Kazakhstan oil and gas cooperation. Today, the Aktobe company employs more than 20,000 local people.

In Tajikistan, Chinese energy equipment manufacturing companies completed and put into operation the Dushanbe No. 2 thermal power plant, making the winter power shortage in the Tajik capital a thing of the past; in Kyrgyzstan, with the support of China, the modernization project of the Bishkek thermal power plant was completed, increasing the power generation from the original 262 million kWh per year to 1.74 billion kWh, and the heat supply increased by nearly 100%; in Turkmenistan, the Amu Darya natural gas project operated by China National Petroleum Corporation has built an annual oil and gas equivalent production capacity of tens of millions of tons and an annual gas supply capacity of 10 billion cubic meters.

4. Green

In early April 2025, the Bashi and Zankerdi wind power projects in Uzbekistan, which China Southern Power Grid Co., Ltd. participated in the investment, construction and operation, were officially put into operation, becoming the largest wind power project in Central Asia. It is expected to provide about 3 billion kilowatt-hours of clean electricity to the local area each year and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 1.6 million tons.

More and more Chinese companies are investing in and building factories in Central Asia. New energy projects such as the Navoi 100 MW photovoltaic power station in Uzbekistan, the Zhanatas wind farm in Kazakhstan, the Turgusun hydropower station and the Almaty photovoltaic power station have been put into operation, and China Huadian's Aktau gas turbine project and Sheli photovoltaic project in Kazakhstan have started construction.

5. Development

Using technology to alleviate poverty. In recent years, Northwest A&F University has built 8 overseas agricultural technology demonstration parks in Central Asia around advantageous disciplines such as crop breeding, pest and disease control, water-saving irrigation, animal husbandry and veterinary medicine, saline-alkali land management and development, and food processing. The China-Kyrgyzstan Fruit Tree Breeding Technology Demonstration Park was established in 2023 and was jointly built by Northwest A&F University and Kyrgyzstan universities and enterprises.   

6. Security

In September 2024, the first China-Central Asia Public Security and Internal Affairs Ministers' Meeting was launched in Lianyungang, China. The parties reached a number of consensuses on combating transnational crime, extremism, cybercrime, etc., and established a regular information sharing and joint action mechanism. In

In September of the same year, the China-Central Asian Supreme Court Presidents' Meeting was held in Urumqi, Xinjiang. The parties reached a number of consensuses on transnational judicial assistance and joint combat against violent terrorist crimes. Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and other countries shared their anti-terrorism legislation and law enforcement experience, and promoted the formation of a new pattern of regional coordinated anti-terrorism.

In April 2025, the sixth China-Central Asia Foreign Ministers' Meeting explicitly supported the establishment of the SCO Anti-Drug Center in Dushanbe, and linked it with the Central Asian Regional Anti-Drug Information Coordination Center to strengthen drug detection and transnational crime.

II Challenges

1 Against the backdrop of a sluggish global economic recovery, unilateralism and trade protectionism bring further risk shocks.

-International market turmoil may directly affect the export economy of Central Asian countries, especially the export of energy, minerals, and agricultural products.

-Tariff wars and unilateral sanctions pose a threat to the investment environment in Central Asian countries.

-The restructuring of the global supply chain caused by unilateralism has had an impact on the logistics and trade networks of Central Asian countries.

2. Non-traditional security risks cannot be ignored

-Responding to the threats of terrorism and extremism.

-Combat transnational crimes such as drug trafficking and maintain cybersecurity.

-Respond to climate change and ecological threats.