China has invested billions of dollars into the pipelines, highways and railways that help bring Central Asia’s rich reserve of natural resources into China. Many Chinese cities rely on natural gas from Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan has some of the world’s largest oil fields outside the Middle East.
In 2013, Mr. Xi chose Kazakhstan as the site of the speech where he outlined the vision for his Belt and Road Initiative, a $1 trillion plan to build infrastructure projects in developing countries to draw them closer to China’s orbit. Last year, Mr. Xi visited Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan for his first overseas trip since the pandemic started.
Still, the relationship has not always been smooth. Several Belt and Road projects in the region have stalled or been embroiled in scandal, including a power plant breakdown in 2018 that left much of Kyrgyzstan’s capital without heat or electricity. Local residents have protested over concerns that their countries are becoming too indebted to China, and over China’s internment of Muslim minorities in Xinjiang.
And Mr. Xi’s ambitions in the region are complicated by his friendship with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, and by the two countries’ close ties. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a former Soviet republic, has unnerved Central Asia, stirring concerns that Russia could try to seize other places formerly part of the Soviet Union, or encourage separatists.
Theresa Fallon, director of the Center for Russia Europe Asia Studies in Brussels, said China is engaged in a “tough diplomatic tap dance” of trying to gain an edge with Central Asian countries without angering Mr. Putin.
“China and Russia share an anti-Western narrative, but there are many areas of potential friction,” Ms. Fallon said.
Antony J. Blinken, the United States secretary of state, also visited Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan this year, hoping to encourage the Central Asian countries to resist providing economic aid to Russia in the face of Western sanctions.
