ALMATY – Central Asian countries are increasingly shaping how China invests, builds infrastructure and develops technological partnerships in the region, challenging the perception that Beijing follows a single model of global engagement, experts said at an Oct.
20 discussion in Almaty. From L to R: CAPS Unlock Executive Director Aida Aidarkulova, Evan A. Feigenbaum, vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and Temur Umarov of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center. Photo credit: The Astana Times.
Organized by the Almaty-based CAPS Unlock think tank and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the discussion examined how local governments, institutions and businesses influence China’s activities across different regions. Experts stressed that Central Asian states are not merely responding to China’s growing presence but are using their own development priorities and bargaining power to influence the terms of cooperation.
At the same time, intensifying competition between the United States and China could make it more difficult for countries in the region to maintain diversified international partnerships, even as global uncertainty creates new opportunities for them to advance their interests.
From a single China model to local adaptation Carnegie launched the China Local/Global initiative nearly six years ago to study Chinese engagement across seven regions: Central Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and North Africa, and the Pacific.
Evan A. Feigenbaum, vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said the initiative was designed to examine how Chinese engagement differs according to local political, economic and institutional conditions. “While that may be part of the story, it is very clearly not the whole story,” Feigenbaum said of the assumption that China imposes a uniform model on countries around the world.
CAPS Unlock Executive Director Aida Aidarkulova said the partnership was intended to bring regional expertise into international debates rather than simply introduce foreign perspectives to Central Asia. “We believe such exchanges enrich everyone involved,” she said, describing the think tank’s broader goal as generating knowledge about Central Asia from within the region and contributing to a regional research agenda.