China Continues Its Steady Expansion Into Central Asia On The Sidelines Of Big Summits

​As Chinese leader Xi Jinping walked down a red carpet on Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in early September flanked by Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un at a heavily choreographed military parade, another story about China’s expanded influence was unfolding on the sidelines.

While Xi sent messages of resolve aimed at the West during the September 3 parade and days earlier at a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), Chinese officials and businesses inked billions of dollars' worth of new infrastructure and technology deals with Central Asian governments and companies while announcing new agreements to lessen the barrier for Chinese businesses to operate across the region.

«China is now completely integrated into the region. There is no denying its overwhelming presence in Central Asia,» Frank Maracchione, an expert on China’s engagement with Central Asia at the University of Kent, told RFE/RL.

This reality is most apparent in Central Asia’s two biggest economies: Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. At the SCO summit and at events on the sidelines around the massive military parade in Beijing, Kazakh President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev signed more than 70 new commercial deals worth 15 $ billion that included investments in oil and gas projects, petrochemicals, transport corridors, logistics hubs, and digital technologies.
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