Kyrgyzstan is becoming one of the key players with the construction of the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway. Independent expert Mars Sariev said this during the round table “Strategic partnership between Kyrgyzstan and China within the SCO in a new era.”
He noted that the status of the country is changing, because the road will become the shortest route to Europe.
“However, you should understand that there are certain risks. China is a strong country with its own development strategy. Not everyone will like or benefit from its plans. China is the main enemy of the West,” Sariev explained.
He recalled the situation with Ukraine, when China proposed to construct a port there and allocated $1 billion for this. As a result, there was a coup there and the plans were cancelled. The political scientist believes that the destabilization of the situation was an attempt to undermine China's aspirations in the region.
“We must understand that similar things can happen in any country where China operates. Therefore, we should create our own counterprojects, work proactively, and be on guard so as not to be captured by someone else’s geopolitical influence,” he added.
Economic expert Kubat Rakhimov supported his colleague. He also believes that the Ukrainian coup could well be linked to Chinese interests there. He added that it was not only about the port, but also about China’s acquisition of a unique aircraft manufacturing plant there and other infrastructure investments worth a total of more than $20 billion. As a result, China crossed the path of the United States, which, in his opinion, was the reason for the tension situation.
“However, before the construction of the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway, an analysis of geopolitical and geo-economic risks was carried out. All basic risks have been described. There are two key ones. The first risk is the uncontrolled growth of external debt, since to build such a road, a fairly large amount is needed. The second risk is China's access to our mineral deposits. If we remove these two risks and bring everything into a market position, as the government is doing now, I think that this can happen,” emphasized Kubat Rakhimov.
CentralasianLIGHT.org
July 24, 2024