Weekly News Roundup: Dispatches from the Silk Road Economic Belt

What China Didn’t Learn From the Collapse of the Soviet Union
It’s been 25 years since the fall of the Soviet Union, and in that time the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has generated tens of thousands of internal papers, roundtables, and even documentaries on the issue. Like most intellectual products in the mainland, 95 percent of these have been worthless regurgitations of the political line of the day by mediocre careerists. But the official angle on the collapse, which once seemed to be pushing the country toward reforms that were more sensitive to public needs and opening the economy, has shifted sharply in the last few years. Today, the lessons Beijing is drawing seem likely to keep sending it backward. (Foreign Policy)

Chinese companies increasingly employ central asians
It’s often received wisdom that Chinese companies mainly employ Chinese workers on their projects in Central Asia (for example David Lewis of Exeter University recently on the Majlis podcast). This view fails to recognise that Chinese companies have been localising for some time, and that old narratives on Chinese labour practices in Central Asia need to be reexamined. There is significant evidence of Chinese companies employing Central Asians, particularly in labouring, clerical and interpreting jobs. Criticism of a lack of opportunities in management and technical positions is probably justified but some companies, such as Huawei, offer opportunities at that level too. (China in Central Asia)

China gets an all-clear from the Taliban to mine for copper in Afghanistan
The Taliban say they're giving China the green light to restart a $3 billion mining project, but Afghanistan's legal government says the militant group is just blowing smoke. "The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan directs all its Mujahideen to help in the security of all national projects that are in the higher interest of Islam and the country," the Taliban announced on Nov. 29, adding that a massive copper mine called Mes Aynak is among the sites it is "committed to safeguarding." (CNBC)

Afghanistan voices displeasure over being ignored in upcoming trilateral meetin

Kabul voiced displeasure over the planned trilateral meeting between China, Russia and Pakistan on Afghanistan in Moscow on Tuesday, Tolo News reported. Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs' (MoFA) spokesman Ahmad Shekib Mustaghni said on Monday that the agenda of the meeting was a matter of concern. Despite Afghanistan being the focus of their agenda, Kabul was not consulted, he said.

"Gratuitous utilisation”: How China is actively bringing the Tajik parts of Pamir under its influence

The Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO) of Tajikistan, also known as Pamir—a namesake of mountains, occupies about 40 per cent of Tajikistan’s territory, i.e. about 63,700 sq. km. The region borders on Kyrgyzstan in the north, China in the east and Afghanistan in the south. The Pamir mountains are known for their wealth of natural resources, hence the interest of many countries in it with China, Tajikistan’s immediate neighbour, being the first in line. And in April 2010, the government of Tajikistan approved of an agreement between the Geology Service of the Chinese ministry of lands and resources and the Tajik administration for geology. The agreement paved way for “joint geological prospects in border zones” that have been underway for more than six years. (Fergana News)

China says to hold first military drills with Nepal next year

China will hold its first military drills with Nepal next year, China's Defence Ministry said on Thursday (Dec 29), in a move that could unnerve neighbouring India. China is vying to increase its influence in landlocked Nepal, which serves as a natural buffer between China and India, challenging India's long-held position as the dominant outside power. While China and India have tried to improve ties, a festering border dispute and deep mutual suspicions remain. (Strait Times)

Between Russia and China, the Black Dragon River
The Amur River separates China from Russia’s Far East, and not so long ago was the site of bloody conflict. (The Diplomat)

5 Upheavals To Expect Along The New Silk Road In 2017

The New Silk Road is a multifaceted, multinational initiative to establish a network of enhanced overland and maritime economic corridors extending between China and Europe, better integrating a region that consists of over 60 countries and 60% of the population, 75% of the energy resources, and 70% of GDP in the world. Here some predictions for the next year:

1. Leaps towards more of an institutionalized framework

2. Continued on the ground development

3. Increased participation from Europe

4. The opening of new trade routes and the joining together of the overland and maritime Silk Road

5. Increased synergy between Russia, Japan, and India's international development plans with China's Belt and Road (Forbes)

The Art of the Bazaar: A Photo Essay

Every Friday Muslim migrant men fill the streets surrounding the mosque in the Ürümchi neighborhood of Black First Mountain (Heijia Shan). They come to pray. After the noonday (zohr) prayers and straining to hear the weekly message from the imam, they tuck their rugs under their arms and buy their meat for the week. Thousands come, Uyghurs from the countryside who are in the city working as day laborers in demolition sites or hawking goods on the streets, to perform their ritual ablutions and stroll through one of Ürümchi's last remaining bazaars. For centuries bazaars and mosques have been a linked ritual space for Muslims in Chinese Central Asia. (Art of Life in Chinese Central Asia)

CENTRAL ASIA 

Russia wants to boost air force presence in Tajikistan

Russia wants to expand its air force deployment to Tajikistan and is in talks with Dushanbe for joint use of an air base in the former Soviet republic, the Russian ambassador to Dushanbe said on Tuesday. Russia already has an infantry base near Dushanbe with up to 7,000 troops stationed there and last year deployed four attack and transport helicopters to a nearby Ayni air base.
Ambassador Igor Lyakin-Frolov told reporters the Russian and Tajik governments were in talks over an agreement that would allow Russia joint use of the Ayni base and to expand its presence there. (Reuters)

Kazakh Leader Says Ready To Host Russia, Iran, Turkey For Syria Talks
Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev said he is ready to host talks between Russia, Iran, and Turkey on the conflict in Syria in the Kazakh capital of Astana."Kazakhstan is ready to host all sides for talks in Astana," Nazarbaev said on December 26 during a visit to St. Petersburg where he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Kazakh national news agency Kazinform reported that Nazarbaev recently spoke with the presidents of Turkey and Iran and got their agreement to the plan.
Putin said on December 23 that Russia, Iran, Turkey and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had all agreed that neutral Kazakhstan should be the venue for new Syrian peace negotiations.

The Soviet Union’s pivot to Asia

I very much enjoyed Chris Miller's new book The Struggle to Save the Soviet Economy, a narrative of economic policy in the last decade or so of the USSR that explains just how and why its economic problems became overwhelming. I was too young when the Soviet Union broke up to do more than just register the news headlines, so helped me get a better understanding of the events leading up to its collapse. One of book's themes is that perestroika was not in fact an ill-considered attempt to rapidly introduce Western neoliberal economics, but rather an attempt to emulate the reforms that China was implementing so successfully at the time. (Batson's Blog)

100 Women 2016: Saikal - Kyrgyzstan's original nomad warrior woman

Kyrgyzstan's national hero Manas once fell in love with and fought the daughter of a nomad chief. Her name was Saikal and this is her story. (BBC)

It's good princess V bad princess! Fears grow for Uzbek socialite 'locked away by new president' as his niece replaces her as country's poster girl 

Concern is rising over the fate of vanished Uzbekistan princess Gulnara Karimova as the country's new despot refuses calls from her family to prove to the world that she is still alive. Iron-fisted President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has ignored a demand by the son of the glamorous 44-year-old daughter of his predecessor to reveal her fate. Islam Karimov, 24, grandson and namesake of the former Tashkent tyrant, has voiced fears that 59-year-old Mirziyoyev's security operatives plan to to 'eliminate her, most likely by poisoning' (Daily Mail)