Via Third Pole, an article on the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway which – after more than two decades of negotiations – remains stalled on basic issues, with no clear way forward: The China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway (CKU) has been under discussion for almost 25 years, but construction may never begin. Despite numerous high level meetings the three countries have failed to […]
Read more »Via Silk Road Briefing, a report on the potential of a Central Asian railway: A long held dream along the Silk Road both old and new has been a railway that links China to Central Asia and the Middle East. Actually getting it done however is proving difficult: Kyrgyzstan lies in the middle. Anyone that […]
Read more »Via Eurasianet.com, a look at how Beijing has adopted a new economic model for Central Asia, investing less in major infrastructure and spreading its risk: Roads, pipelines, coal-fired power plants: not so much anymore. Beijing has changed course. It now rarely funds major infrastructure projects in Central Asia. Instead the People’s Republic has shifted to manufacturing: […]
Read more »Via Radio Free Europe, an article on how Kyrgyzstan is the missing link in China’s railway to Uzbekistan…and beyond: The big problem with the announcement in early June that the first freight train had left the Chinese city of Lanzhou bound for the Uzbek capital, Tashkent, is that the railway link in Kyrgyzstan needed for the […]
Read more »Via The Diplomat, an article on the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan Transport Corridor which is in use and has great potential, but the middle section through Kyrgyzstan still transports cargo via trucks and not railcars: China continues to diversify its land transportation options, and the Central Asian states are proactive players willing to tap into the opportunity to become […]
Read more »Via the Lowy Institute, an article on how Central Asia’s economic fortunes are increasingly bound to Beijing: For China, the Covid-19 question is answered by more Belt and Road. As Foreign Minister Wang Yi put it at a press conference during the 13th National People’s Congress in Beijing last weekend: The impact of Covid-19 on the Belt and […]
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