Dispatches from the Silk Road Economic Belt

A new China-Europe freight train line was launched Tuesday, linking Delingha, northwest China's Qinghai Province, with Russia. 
The first train, loaded with chemical containers, will leave China through the Alataw Pass in Xinjiang and pass through Kazakhstan before reaching Barnaul in Russia. (xinhua)

Chinese premier calls for more pragmatic cooperation with Tajikistan
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on 10 October called on China and Tajikistan to continue to consolidate mutual political trust, promote pragmatic cooperation and safeguard regional peace and stability. Li made the remarks in a signed article for a Tajik newspaper prior to his official visit to Tajikistan and attendance at the 17th meeting of the Council of Heads of Government of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). Xinhua

India, China launch joint training for Afghanistan, plan more projects
China’s ambassador to India said the joint training of 10 Afghan diplomats at the Indian Foreign Service Institute was the first step in China-India-Afghanistan cooperation that was agreed at a summit between President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi this year. (Reuters)

China in Afghanistan: A Reluctant Leader with Growing Stakes
A piece from late last week as part of a short dossier ahead of the Afghan election done for a new outlet of an excellent Italian think tank called Istituto per gli Studi di Politica Internazionale (ISPI). My contribution focused on China’s role in Afghanistan, a common theme which there should be more work on later in the year.

Pakistan, IMF to Discuss Bailout TermsThe International Monetary Fund’s managing director, Christine Lagarde, said a team will soon visit Islamabad to discuss a new financial assistance package for Pakistan, reportedly up to $8 billion. Pakistan has received more than a dozen financial support packages (Dawn) from the IMF, including a $6.4 billion bailout that concluded in 2016.

Greater transparency is needed to dispel Xinjiang concerns
Like any nation, China is obligated to respond proactively to extremism and terrorism in the autonomous region. Just as essential is being more open to foreign journalists and rights groups (scmp)

CENTRAL ASIA 

President Shavkat Mirziyoyev met with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, in Paris this
week. Mirziyoyev, who has promoted gradual reforms in his long isolated country, reportedly signed partnership agreements (AP) with French energy firms during the trip.

Putin, Mirziyoyev launch project for Uzbekistan’s first nuclear plant
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Uzbek counterpart Shavkat Mirziyoyev on October 19 pressed a symbolic button together to launch a project to build Uzbekistan’s first nuclear power plant. Given that the Soviet-era nuclear plant in Kazakhstan was decommissioned in 2001 and is unlikely to be restored to operation, the facility is likely to be Central Asia's first new-era nuclear plant. (intellinews)

Turkmenistan profile - Media
The Turkmen government has an absolute monopoly of the media. The authorities monitor media outlets, control printing presses, block websites, monitor internet use and lay down editorial policies.
Reporters Without Borders has called Turkmenistan "an ever-expanding news black hole". (bbc)

Weekly News Roundup: Dispatches from the Silk Road Economic Belt

China is ‘building a training camp in Afghanistan’ to fight terrorism
China has started building a training camp for Afghan troops in a narrow corridor that connects the two countries – a project Beijing is fully funding to help its neighbour boost counterterrorism efforts, sources close to the military said. (scmp)

Why the Muslim world isn't saying anything about China’s repression and 'cultural cleansing' of its downtrodden Muslim minority
Muslim countries have been silent over China's crackdown on its Uighurs, a Muslim-majority ethnic minority in the country's west. (businessinsider)

Imran Khan expected to stick with Chinese investment projects after Pakistan election victory

Khan’s party and other opposition parties have staged frequent protests that caused projects associated with the corridor to be delayed, but Khan stressed that the target was Sharif and not China. (scmp)

Shanghai Cooperation Organisation looking frosty from Astana

Kazakhstan is one of Russia’s closest allies in Central Asian, and the relationship between Russia and Kazakhstan plays an important role in the functioning of the SCO. But the relationship has recently become rocky. Kazakhstan–China relations are ostensibly faring better. According to the official Kazakh narrative, relations between Kazakhstan and China are exemplary and Astana is eager to capture the opportunities provided by China’s Belt and Road Initiative. China has pledged to provide more than US$600 million to support the development of transport infrastructure in Kazakhstan within the next five years, and Chinese companies are building a light rail transit system in Astana with US$1.9 billion that Kazakhstan borrowed from the China Development Bank. More than 127 projects cumulatively worth US$67 billion were signed between Kazakhstan and China in the past six years. New joint projects were also discussed during Nazarbayev’s last visit to China in areas such as energy, oil and gas, new technologies and cultural cooperation.(eastasiaforum)

Kazakhs Increasingly Hostile to Both Russians and Chinese
Kazakhstanis are increasingly skeptical of close ties with both Russians and Chinese, profoundly limiting the ability of the former to recover the influence Moscow once had there and making it far more difficult for Beijing to move in and supplant it. (Jamestown)

Sauytbay Trial in Kazakhstan Puts Astana in a Bind with China
The complexities of international relations aside, is Kazakhstan going to choose China over Kazakhs? (the diplomat)

Asylum seeker to remain in Kazakhstan in Chinese internment centre case
A Kazakh court has decided against deporting a Chinese woman of Kazakh descent back to China, where her lawyers say she faces a risk of torture after working at a secretive internment centre in China’s western region of Xinjiang (FT)

CHINESE HANDLING OF KAZAKHS A BUMP IN BELT AND ROAD
Astana’s economic ties with Beijing leave it with a headache in dealing with public anger over the internment of its nationals in Xinjiang’s ‘re-education centres’ (scmp)

Kazakh port in decline bids for slice of China trade
With the outlines of its six idle cranes obscured by thick fog and pouring rain, Kazakhstan's Caspian seaport Aktau seems an unlikely stop on China's much-hyped new silk road.
But the sleepy port, which has been badly hit in recent years by new oil routes, is vying for a slice of the pie as competition for Chinese trade warms up on the shores of the world's largest inland sea. (AFP)

Crackdown in Xinjiang: Where have all the people gone?
The impact is beginning to be felt outside the region. Once thriving trade with China’s neighbours in Central Asia and Pakistan has dried up, with foreign traders unable to receive their usual one-month visas due to heightened security screening. Inventory depots, where traders gather to make deals, offload goods and exchange currency, have seen traffic plummet. (FT)

Criminal Arrests in Xinjiang Account for 21% of China’s Total in 2017

According to Chinese government data, criminal arrests in Xinjiang accounted for an alarming 21% of all arrests in China in 2017, though the population in the XUAR is only about 1.5% of China’s total. The ratio of formal arrests made in Xinjiang has increased by 306% in the past five years compared to the previous five-year period.Of the total number of people arrested from 2013 to 2017, nearly 70% of the arrests were made in the year 2017 alone. (nchrd)

Companies help create jobs, reduce poverty in Xinjiang

Huafu Fashion Co. Ltd., the world's largest supplier of melange yarn, will invest in 100 poor villages in southern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region as part of three-year poverty-relief plan. Based in east China's Zhejiang Province, Huafu plans to invest a total of 100 million yuan (around 15 million US dollars) in 100 poverty-stricken villages in developing industries to boost employment over the following three years. (Xinhua)

China's CNPC to invest more than $22 billion to boost Xinjiang oil, gas output by 2020

China’s state oil company CNPC said on Wednesday it will invest more than 150 billion yuan ($22 billion) by 2020 to boost oil and gas output in the western Xinjiang region, the latest move to replace falling output from ageing fields in northeast China. Output will exceed 50 million tonnes of oil equivalent in the Xinjiang region within two years, CNPC said. (Reuters)

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang tells Buddhist leaders to defend ethnic unity on rare trip to Tibet
Li also vows to boost infrastructure spending to improve economy, visiting tunnel construction site for railway link with Sichuan

Southern Xinjiang gets better connected

A key roadway in Hotan prefecture, in the south of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, was opened to traffic for the first time on Wednesday. The four-lane highway is an important component of China's planned road network that aims to better connect the country with Central and South Asia. (China Daily)

Russia, Central Asia accept BRI gainful

The ancient Silk Road once linked China with Central Asia and Russia, as well as Europe. In the 21st century, Central Asian countries have established even closer economic and trade ties with China. In fact, a series of medium-and long-term economic development strategies devised by the Central Asian countries have much in common with the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative, and thus have created ample room and good opportunities for strategic cooperation. (China Daily)

China-Europe freight trains make 10,000 trips

"China has accumulated abundant management experience in running container terminals. After the acquisition, we've gradually introduced an advanced operation process and management into Noatum, and improved efficiency". With the help of the Chinese management team, the company has established an operations department to increase efficiency at the ports and railway terminals. A new health, security and safety department has been set up to ensure the company meets the highest safety standards.

CENTRAL ASIA

TAJIKISTAN

The self-proclaimed Islamic State claimed the killings of four foreign tourists who were run over by a car while cycling (NYT) and then stabbed. The Tajik government blamed the attack (RFE/RL) on a banned local Islamist party and said one assailant was trained in Iran.

Tajik or Russian” jets bomb Afghanistan following border skirmish
Strike confirms willingness to engage in cross-border operations to secure southern front. (eurasianet)

Weekly News Roundup: Dispatches from the Silk Road Economic Belt

China development banks expand links with foreign lenders

China’s development banks — the biggest lenders in the sector worldwide — are ramping up co-operation with overseas financial institutions after problems with their international investment projects. The China Development Bank (CDB) and the Export-Import Bank of China (Ex-Im Bank) are seeking to spread the burden of funding international projects, officials and executives said. (FT)

How the China-US trade row might pave the way for the soybean Silk Road

China already imports nearly 100 million tonnes of the crop a year, accounting for about 60 per cent of the world’s market. Last year roughly half of those imports came from Brazil and a third from the United States, with suppliers in places like Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan together contributing less than 1 per cent of the total. (scmp)

Is China’s US$62 billion investment plan fuelling resentment in Pakistan?
China-Pakistan Economic Corridor will stir up political tensions if Islamabad and Beijing cannot resolve existing concerns, NGO says. “While it is too early to assess if CPEC can deliver the economic gains Islamabad promises, the project risks inflaming long-standing tensions between the centre and smaller federal units, and within provinces over inequitable economic development and resource distribution,” the report said. (Scmp)

Kyrgyzstan grows wary of China amid corruption probe Kyrgyzstan is growing increasingly wary of China as details of a corruption case involving a project linked to Beijing are revealed. The country is heavily indebted to China and is now working to rebalance its diplomacy, moving closer to its neighbors. (Nikkei)

China targets vehicle pollution with pledge to deliver 30 per cent more goods by rail by 2020

China will boost rail freight capacity by 2020 and raise the volume of goods delivered by trains by as much as 30 per cent, an environment ministry official said on Thursday, as the country grapples with rising vehicle pollution. (Scmp)

China, Uzbekistan to deepen law enforcement, security cooperation

Chinese State Councillor Zhao Kezhi held talks with Uzbek Minister of Internal Affairs Pulat Bobojonov on 5 July on law enforcement and security cooperation. Zhao, minister of public security, said the two sides should implement consensus reached by leaders of the two countries, further improve security cooperation mechanism for Belt and Road projects, and strengthen pragmatic cooperation in crackdown on the "three evil forces" of terrorism, separatism and extremism and cross-border crime, as well as in law enforcement training to create a safe and stable environment for prosperity and development in both countries. (Xinhua)

China’s ‘prison-like re-education camps’ strain relations with Kazakhstan as woman asks Kazakh court not to send her back

Secretive “re-education camps” allegedly holding hundreds of thousands of people in a Muslim-majority region in western China are the focus of an explosive court case in Kazakhstan, testing the country’s ties with Beijing. (Scmp)

Opinion: A triple win for the EU, CEECs and China?
Compared with bilateral ties, this mechanism of multilateral cooperation between China and the sixteen CEECs has two advantages. First of all, it can facilitate policy coordination between the two sides in an efficient way. Chinese leader does not need to visit all the sixteen countries one by one, thus economizing diplomatic resources. Secondly, many projects go beyond one country’s boundary. Therefore, it is imperative to discuss ways and means of cooperation from a wider perspective among more partners. Challenges come from Berlin and Brussels. Out of the 16 CEECs, eleven are members of the European Union. So the EU accuses China of using the “divide and rule” tactics. In his State of the Union address in September 2017, Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission, said, “If a foreign, state-owned, company wants to purchase a European harbor, part of our energy infrastructure or a defense technology firm, this should only happen in transparency, with scrutiny and debate. It is a political responsibility to know what is going on in our own backyard so that we can protect our collective security if needed.” (cgtn)

Pakistan seeks more loans from China to avert currency crisis

"The main issue is that once we are locked in an IMF programme, we will have to make full disclosure of the terms on which China has agreed to build the CPEC.” (FT)

Xinjiang relocates 460k residents

Authorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in Northwest China relocated 461,000 poverty-ridden residents to work in other parts of the region during the first quarter of the year, in what a Chinese expert on Friday said was a bid to improve social stability and alleviate poverty. (Global Times)

Chinese Investor Disappoints Kazakhstan's National Oil Company
China’s troubled CEFC will pass on a deal to buy a majority stake in KMGI, a subsidiary of Kazakhstan’s Kazmunaigas.China’s CEFC will not buy a majority stake in Kazmunaigas International (KMGI), owned by Kazakhstan’s state-owned oil and gas firm Kazmunaigas, a disappointing development for a deal more than two years in the making. (The Diplomat)


CENTRAL ASIA

Uzbekistan invites Russian ROSATOM to build nuclear power plant on its territory
A series of meetings since late December 2017 between officials from Uzbekistan and ROSATOM, the Russian state nuclear energy corporation, suggests that both sides have reached an agreement to build a two-reactor nuclear power plant (NPP) in this Central Asian republic. According to Bakhrom Ashrafkhanov, Uzbekistan’s ambassador to Russia, “[T]he nuclear power plant will definitely be constructed,” and the two sides are working on a road map. It is expected the final deal will be signed this autumn in Tashkent, during President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Uzbekistan

Weekly News Roundup: Dispatches from the Silk Road Economic Belt

China's Belt and Road Initiative, Five Years In
In the past five years, China has spent at least $34 billion on the Belt and Road Initiative, focusing primarily on connectivity projects such as railways, ports, energy pipelines and grids. And though China has made major progress toward its long-term goals, it has also experienced several delays and setbacks. Given the sheer scale of the Belt and Road Initiative and how many large projects it encompasses, hold-ups, cancellations and failures are to be expected. But the causes of delays, in some cases a result of increased skepticism and resistance to China's strategic aims, will continue to shape the future development of the Belt and Road Initiative. (stratfor)


In Europe's east, a border town strains under China's Silk Road train boom
A study published by the Shanghai-based Donghua University last year estimated that provincial governments in China had collectively spent $303 million subsidizing China-Europe block trains (Reuters)

China-led AIIB invests $4.2 billion in 2017
The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) released its annual report over the weekend, posting a total investment of $4.2 billion for last year in energy, transport, and infrastructure projects throughout the continent and North Africa, Caixin reports.The bank’s investments jumped 150% in 2017 from the previous year, which was also its first full year in operation after its founding. Net income increased $85 million from 2016, according to the report, and total paid-in capital was $19 billion.

From China to Central Asia, a regional security bloc’s long, slow march towards an alternative world order
Various heads of state from member nations of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) met in the Chinese city of Qingdao for the bloc’s annual heads of state meeting.The SCO’s activities have been limited in the decade and a half since it was formed but this year’s summit had some significant moments. First and foremost was the presence of – and handshake between – Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain.(Scmp)

Central Asian members of SCO grapple with diminished roles after admission of new members
Astana and Tashkent feared that having the world’s top two most populous countries as members, importing protracted India-Pakistan tensions into the SCO, as well as Russian diplomatic intrigues meant to exploit the former could easily divert the organization’s focus away from Central Asia. (Jamestown Foundation)

New bonded zone inaugurated in Xinjiang

A comprehensive bonded zone has been launched in Urumqi, the third in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.The zone, covering 2.4 square kilometers, is in the northwestern part of the regional capital, near a container hub for railway transport, an expressway and an international airport. (China Daily)

Is China Bringing Peace to Afghanistan?
China’s role in Afghanistan is undoubtedly growing. What does that mean for the peace process? (Diplomat)

China and Nepal sign 14 infrastructure and connectivity deals
China and Nepal have signed 14 agreements on issues including infrastructure, railway, energy, post-disaster reconstruction and human resources.It came after bilateral talks between Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and his Nepali counterpart Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli on Thursday in Beijing.The two leaders also witnessed the signing of memorandums of understanding (MOUs) on capacity. (Global Times)

China to build railway into Nepal: China Daily
China will build a railway connecting the western region of Tibet with Nepal, the China Daily reported on Friday, one of several bilateral deals signed during Nepali Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli’s visit to Beijing.The link will connect the Tibetan city of Xigaze with Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu, the paper said. (Reuters)

China-Pakistan Economic Corridor:Opportunities and Risks
What’s new? Pakistani leaders say the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), launched in 2015, is a “game changer” for the country’s ailing economy. But opaque plans for the corridor, the upheaval likely to affect locals along its route, and profits flowing mostly to outsiders could stir unrest. The government has repressed CPEC critics. (crisisgroup)

CENTRAL ASIA 

Uzbekistan’s New Era Might Just Be Real
Long-needed reforms are changing what was once a grim autocracy. Washington can help. (Foreign Policy)

Bukhara, condannati per tortura cinque funzionari dei servizi segreti dell’era Karimov
Pene che variano dai 14 ai 18 anni. Altre quattro guardie carcerarie condannate a 18 anni con le stesse accuse. Da quando è salito al potere, Mirziyoyev cerca di affrancare il Paese dal passato di Karimov, ma le torture continuano.

Nazarbayev Won't Be Kazakhstan's Next President...Or Will He?

Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev, head of the Kazakh Senate, suggested Nazarbayev won’t run in 2020 — then walked the comment back. (Diplomat)

Gazprom again discusses building gas pipeline across North and South Korea
Russian news agencies are reporting that Seoul has asked Russia’s Gazprom to resume talks involving North Korea about the construction of a Russian gas pipeline through the two Koreas. The South Korean government has long been interested in purchasing Russian gas via a north–south pipeline. Indeed, the two sides agreed on a planned route already in 2011, but tensions between the two Koreas put everything on hold. Now, however, the recent warming of relations between Seoul and Pyongyang as well as Trump’s meeting with Kim, Seoul believes, have opened new possibilities (Politikus.ru, June 16).

Weekly News Roundup: Dispatches from the Silk Road Economic Belt

The Syria connection to Iran, Afghanistan and China
Iranian academic spells out Iran's position in the Middle East and questions US policy toward the region; amid reports that the Qods force is unlikely to disband, and that Daesh (ISIS) is being moved the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. (Asia Times)

3039 freight trains from China to Central Asian countries depart from Qingdao
A gantry crane loads cargo onto a freight train bound for Central Asia at the Jiaozhou Bay International Logistics Harbour in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province, May 7, 2018. As of Tuesday, a total of 3039 freight trains from China to Central Asian countries have departed from Qingdao, a nodal city on the economic corridor linking China, Central Asia and Europe. (Xinhua)

China-Pakistan Relations: Challenging US Global Leadership

Trans-Pacific View author Mercy Kuo regularly engages subject-matter experts, policy practitioners, and strategic thinkers across the globe for their diverse insights into U.S. Asia policy. This conversation with Harrison Akins – Research Fellow at the Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy at the University of Tennessee who specializes in South Asian politics – is the 141st in “The Trans-Pacific View Insight Series.” (The Diplomat)

China's Reach and Europe's Money Meet in Balkan Outpost

A short hike from the fishing village of Brijesta, where the Croatian mainland’s rocky coastline across the bay melts into the Adriatic, a four-story concrete pier scrapes the blue horizon.The hulking eyesore is part of an abandoned bridge project, an ever-present reminder of how the forces of history and squabbling politicians failed a region of about 100,000 people. It now has become a new symbol: where the benefits of European Union membership converge with China’s expanding influence. (Bloomberg)

China, CEE countries see steady trade growth in 2017

Trade between China and Central Eastern Europe (CEE) countries grew steadily in 2017, the Ministry of Commerce said over the weekend. Trade volume between China and 16 CEE countries reached 68 billion US dollars last year, up 15.9% year on year. (Xinhua)

China reaches out to Germany to ease worries about eastern Europe foray 
In a meeting with his German counterpart Heiko Maas in Berlin on Thursday, Wang said Beijing was considering trilateral cooperation with Germany and the central and eastern European countries in the “16+1” grouping led by China. (Scmp)

China has turned Xinjiang into a police state like no other
Adrian Zenz of the European School of Culture and Theology in Kortal, Germany, has looked at procurement contracts for 73 re-education camps. He found their total cost to have been 682m yuan ($108m), almost all spent since April 2017. Records from Akto, a county near the border with Kyrgyzstan, say it spent 9.6% of its budget on security (including camps) in 2017. In 2016 spending on security in the province was five times what it had been in 2007. By the end of 2017 it was ten times that: 59bn yuan.(Economist)

PetroChina to spend 5.3 bln yuan on Chongqing gas storage

XinhuaChina is aiming to turn hundreds of wells, including in mountainous Chongqing, into storage facilities for gas piped over from Myanmar and Turkmenistan, after a severe winter supply crunch left it short of the clean-burning fuel. (Reuters)

Siberian forests and their destruction
China’s green Belt and Road tested at the Russian border / ChinaDialogue
“Facing growing demand for wood and shortages in domestic supply, Chinese authorities are pushing for greater imports from Russia, ignoring the fact that its neighbor will cease to be a reliable supplier within a decade… Nowadays, mature forests in Russia are scarce.”

Europe-bound freight trains via Alataw Pass exceed 5,000

More than 5,000 China-Europe freight trains have travelled through Alataw Pass, a major rail port in northwest China, local customs said Monday.Alataw Pass in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region is one of the busiest land ports on the modern Silk Road and connects the East Asia economic rim and the European economic circle. (Xinhua) 

Chinese-Russian Defense and Security Ties: Countering US Encirclement
China recently announced plans to contribute to Russian support of the Assad regime in Syria, just one of many ways in which Chinese-Russian security ties have strengthened over the past five years. Since the early 2010s, the two countries have been brought together by common threat perceptions and similar outlooks on the international security environment. Both claim to share a similar political ideology that centers on state sovereignty and non-interference, and each fears encirclement by the United States. These shared threat perceptions have led to an increased number of combined military exercises, more advanced military-technical cooperation, frequent high-level military-to-military contact, and unified stances on regional security issues across Asia. (Jamestown Foundation)

Fate of Chinese dam project up in the air after Nepal ministers send mixed signals

Confusion about the fate of a Chinese-funded mega dam deepened on Tuesday as Nepalese ministers apparently contradicted each other about whether the US$1.8 billion deal would go ahead.Fate of Chinese dam project up in the air after Nepal ministers send mixed signals. (Scmp)

Kyrgyzstan: Jeenbekov goes to Beijing with China the talk of Bishkek
Top allies of the former president's predecessor are under investigation over their dealings with a Chinese company. (Eurasianet)

China looks to bolster militancy fight at security summit

SCO Member countries have destroyed more than 500 training bases for armed militants and arrested some 2,000 members of “international terrorist organizations” between 2013 and 2017, Xinhua said. (Reuters)


CENTRAL ASIA

Kazakh Leader To Become Life-Long Security Council Chairman
President Nursultan Nazarbayev is expected to sign into law a bill that would allow him to lead the country's security council for life (RFE/RL). Critics of the bill say it is a means for Nazarbayev to hold onto power after leaving office.

Europe’s Pivot to Central Asia
Both Astana and Tashkent are demonstrating the potential that middle-ranking powers can have. Raffaello Pantucci raises some good points (Rusi)

A girl and her eagle help bridge Mongolian ethnic divisions
Documentary on huntress sparks interest in once-spurned minority. (Nikkei)

Foreign companies struggle in cash-strapped Turkmenistan
ALMATY/ANKARA (Reuters) - Some foreign companies in Turkmenistan are struggling to make sales and collect payments as economic pressures mount in large part because of a sharp drop in the Central Asian nation’s crucial gas exports. (Reuters)

Peter Frankopan on Kazakhstan and the new Silk Road
Why history matters more than ever in Astana, a city younger than Google. (FT)

Weekly News Roundup: Dispatches from the Silk Road Economic Belt

China to enhance cooperation on law enforcement security with other SCO countries 
Chinese State Councillor Zhao Kezhi on 21 May met with leading officials from six other member countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), respectively, pledging to enhance practical cooperation on law enforcement security. They are in Beijing for the 13th meeting of SCO Security Council Secretaries, focusing on issues including the regional security situation and priority of security cooperation among the SCO members. (Xinhua)

Xi urges more SCO security cooperation
Chinese President Xi Jinping on 22 May met with heads of foreign delegations attending the 13th meeting of Security Council Secretaries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Beijing. During the meeting, Xi suggested that the SCO member countries continue to uphold the common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security concept, and promote a security governance model that addresses both symptoms and root causes, so as to push forward the SCO security cooperation to a new level. (Xinhua)

China’s Bingtuan paramilitary force tightens grip on Xinjiang
In Hotan county, in the south-west of China’s remote Xinjiang region, where once there was only barren desert, rows of trees have taken root, bearing red dates and pomegranates.
The agricultural project is one of the latest in a decades-long programme of land reclamation efforts in Xinjiang that cost $4bn last year alone, according to Bingtuan, a 3m-strong paramilitary force that is creating the new farmland areas.(FT)

Chasing the Fire-Worshippers of Tashkurgan
In far western China, the Tajik people still practice customs with roots in one of the world’s oldest religions. (Sixth Tone)

Pakistan turns to China to avoid foreign currency crisis

Pakistan has again turned to China for help in avoiding a foreign currency crisis, deepening the two countries’ economic ties by borrowing $1bn from Chinese banks in April, Pakistan’s central bank
governor has revealed. (FT)

Pakistan seeks economic lifeline with fresh China loans
Pakistan expects to obtain fresh Chinese loans worth US$1-2 billion (S$1.34-2.68 billion) to help it avert a balance of payments crisis, Pakistani government sources said, in another sign of Islamabad's growing reliance on Beijing for financial support. (Reuters)

1st section of CPEC's largest superhighway inaugurated in Pakistan's Punjab
Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Saturday inaugurated the first section of the 392-km Multan-Sukkur Motorway, the largest transportation infrastructure project under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in Multan in the country's eastern Punjab province.The prime minister opened the 33-km section spanned from Multan to Shujaabad city for public, which was completed well before the stipulated time.The six-lane superhighway will connect the country's southern port city of Karachi with northwestern city Peshawar through the populated provinces of Punjab and Sindh. (GT)

B&R needs broader support

China may have proposed the Belt and Road (B&R) initiative but the aim is for it to involve many countries, experts said on Sunday, with more diversified investors as well as financial institutions expected to play a bigger role in bridging the funding gaps in B&R projects. For instance, the country's new outbound investment in 52 countries along the routes increased by 22.4 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2018, rising to $3.61 billion according to official data. However, there have been complaints about China's problems with funding for B&R projects. The Chinese government has promised $1 trillion worth of infrastructure investment under the B&R. But the funding for transportation projects stood at $90 billion between 2014 and 2017, the Asia Times reported on May 18, citing data from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Also, the CSIS noted in an earlier study that China's $1 trillion promise may not be met for several years. (Global Times)

CENTRAL ASIA

The people of Turkmenistan can no longer use their president’s image as toilet paper
Police are making sure Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov’s face isn’t being soiled.

Russia plans to open second military base in Kyrgyzstan
After almost five years of fits and starts on the question, Moscow is set to open a second military base in Kyrgyzstan. With this strengthened military presence, Russia will be in a better position to respond to any militant or terrorist threats potentially spilling over from Afghanistan, to shore up its influence with a Bishkek fearful of terrorism and instability, to send a message to other Central Asian states that Russia remains the pre-eminent power in the region, to both please Beijing and counter the growing Chinese presence across Central Asia, as well as to regionally challenge the United States, which is still actively involved in Afghanistan.

Kazakhstan draws ire from Russia for pursuing multi-vector foreign policy
Recent developments in Armenia, where a former president–turned–prime minister, Serzh Sargsyan, hastily stepped down in the face of vigorous street protests on April 23, underscored the potential vulnerability of Russia’s regional alliances. The Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) has been a pillar of Russia’s post-Soviet diplomacy since its formation in 2014, following two decades of various regionalist experiments with trade and economic integration.

Are Central Asia's Militants Already Coming Home From The Middle East?

Kyrgyzstan appears to be waging a major battle on its own soil against alleged members of "international terrorist organizations."In less than 12 months, there have been at least 28 security operations that resulted in apprehending suspects who Kyrgyz authorities say were connected to terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq. (Rferl)

Weekly News Roundup: Dispatches from the Silk Road Economic Belt

China's long game for Middle East influence

One major project within China's Belt and Road infrastructure initiative is a railway from Kazakhstan to Iran, which Beijing has described as a tool to integrate Central Asia with the Middle East. (Axios)

The Rise of China-Europe Railways
Just 10 years ago, regular direct freight services from China to Europe did not exist. Today, they connect roughly 35 Chinese cities with 34 European cities. But despite their rapid advances, these lines must compete with maritime routes that have dominated commerce between Asia and Europe since the late fifteenth century. It remains to be seen how much trade they can capture. (Reconnecting Asia)

First China-Belgium freight train from China's Tangshan arrived in Antwerp
After travelling 16 days and covering a distance of 11,000 km, the first China-Belgium freight train
from China's Tangshan port has arrived in the Belgian port of Antwerp. (Xinhua)

How China is trying to impose Islam with Chinese characteristics in the Hui Muslim heartland
Islamic domes and signs in Arabic are being pulled down and no new ‘Arab style’ mosques can be built under campaign that has Hui communities worried. (Scmp)

Concern in Pakistan over flood of Chinese investment
There are fears in the Pakistani manufacturing sector about Chinese inroads in the e-commerce market as Alibaba gains a large foothold. (Asia Times)

China’s ‘debt-book diplomacy’ comes under fire
A damning report has highlighted 16 countries targeted by Beijing with Pakistan, Djibouti and Sri Lanka identified as the most vulnerable. (Asia Times)

China's Mass Indoctrination Camps Evoke Cultural Revolution
The recollections of Bekali, a heavyset and quiet 42-year-old, offer what appears to be the most detailed account yet of life inside so-called re-education camps. Bekali’s case stands out because he was a foreign citizen, of Kazakhstan, who was seized by China’s security agencies and detained for
eight months last year without recourse. Although some details are impossible to verify, two Kazakh diplomats confirmed he was held for seven months and then sent to re-education. (Ap)
Bulgaria to host contentious China summit
Bulgaria will host a summit between China and 16 central and eastern European countries, stoking fears of potential EU divisions over how to deal with Beijing. Boyko Borisov, Bulgaria’s prime minister, said the so-called 16+1 group, which includes 11 EU members, would meet in Sofia in July, with China on the look out for unfinanced projects to back. (FT)

China, EAEU sign agreement on trade, economic cooperation
China and the Eurasia Economic Union (EAEU) on Thursday signed an agreement on trade and economic cooperation, the first major systematic arrangement ever reached between the two sides.
The document was signed by Chinese Vice-Minister of Commerce Fu Ziying, Chairman of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) Tigran Sargsyan and representatives of the EAEU members at the Astana Economic Forum that kicked off on the same day. (Xinhua)

CENTRAL ASIA 

Turkmenistan’s New Turkmenbashi International Seaport-Another Link in Expanding Eurasian Trade
Turkmenistan’s President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow visited the Caspian shore, on May 2, to inaugurate the Turkmenbashi International Seaport. The new $1.5 billion facility, Berdimuhamedow told attendees, is important not only for Turkmenistan but the wider region as well. It promises to become an important link in the formation of a modern system of maritime transport across the Caspian. He added that his government is offering use of the port to neighboring countries, including the other Central Asian republics (Regnum, May 3). (Jamestown foundation)

Majlis Podcast: Mr. Mirziyoev Goes To Washington
Shavkat Mirziyoev is making his first visit as Uzbekistan's president to Washington, D.C., this week.
It will be the first time an Uzbek president has been received at the White House since March 2002, when Islam Karimov visited just months after his country had agreed to allow the United States to use an air base in Uzbekistan for operations in Afghanistan. (Rferl)

Trump to Meet Uzbek President, and Press for Human Rights

President Trump will welcome President Shavkat Mirziyoyev of Uzbekistan to the White House on Wednesday, part of what his aides say is an effort to launch a new era of partnership with a country that is making its first fitful turns away from authoritarianism.Mr. Trump plans to raise issues of human rights and press freedoms, according to senior administration officials who previewed the visit on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to be identified in discussing it. (NYT)

Uzbekistan aglow after president’s successful US visit
But Tashkent will have to do its own legwork in new strategic partnership. (Eurasianet)
Kyrgyzstan man faces prison for Facebook insults
Behind a Facebook argument about architecture in Kyrgyzstan is a knottier tale of rival politics and geopolitical allegiances. (Eurasianet)

Weekly News Roundup: Dispatches from the Silk Road Economic Belt

EU ambassadors band together against Silk RoadTwenty-seven of the 28 national EU ambassadors to Beijing have compiled a report that sharply criticizes China’s “Silk Road” project, denouncing it as designed to hamper free trade and put Chinese companies at an advantage.The report, seen by Handelsblatt, said the plan, unveiled in 2013, “runs counter to the EU agenda for liberalizing trade and pushes the balance of power in favor of subsidized Chinese companies.” (handelsblatt)

EU presents (nearly) united front against China’s ‘unfair’ Belt and Road Initiative
The document’s existence were first reported by German business newspaper Handelsblatt, but sources close to the EU confirmed its existence. (Scmp)

EU reiterates its position on B&R after ambassadors reportedly denounced initiative
The EU supports cooperation with China on the Belt and Road (B&R) initiative on the basis of China fulfilling its aim of making it an open platform that adheres to market rules, the head of press and information of the Delegation of the European Union to China told the Global Times on 18 April. The reassuring comments were made after German newspaper Handelsblatt reported on 17 April that 27 of the 28 EU ambassadors to China had allegedly compiled a report that sharply criticizes the China-proposed B&R initiative and denounces it as "designed to hamper free trade and put Chinese companies at an advantage." (Global Times)

State-owned Citic takes over troubled tycoon Ye Jianming’s investments in Czech Republic 

Citic Group, China’s biggest state conglomerate and the original “Red Capitalist”, is stepping in to prop up businesses and investments in the Czech Republic owned by troubled oligarch Ye Jianming’s CEFC, according to state news agency Xinhua on Friday. (scmp)

Belt and road’s real aims? Expanding China’s global influence and military presence, US study says
China’s “Belt and Road Initiative” – a massive infrastructure programme that Beijing says is aimed at promoting global trade and economic growth – is actually intended to expand the country’s political influence and military presence, according to a report issued on Tuesday. (Scmp)

Pakistan shuns US for Chinese high-tech weapons
In a sign of the shifting balance of power, Islamabad now purchases much of its advanced military equipment from Beijing. (FT)

Arms sales to Pakistan support nation’s military sovereignty without conditions

There is no military alliance between China and Pakistan, but China's arms exports to Pakistan are a powerful weapon to safeguard the South Asian country's military sovereignty. Pakistan has been shunning the US in favor of Chinese high-technology weapons, the Financial Times reported earlier this week. Since 2010, US arms exports to Pakistan plummeted from $1 billion to just $21 million last year, according to the report, while China has become Pakistan's most consistent supplier of military hardware. (Global Times)


China Defends Pakistan Over Modi Terror Charge
China's foreign ministry defended Pakistan after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi assailed the country as a "terror export factory." The ministry also said terrorism will be discussed during next week's meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, where envoys from Pakistan and India will both be present (Hindustan Times).

China wants corridor to link with India and Nepal
China hopes to comprehensively increase its connectivity with Nepal, which would facilitate the construction of an economic corridor connecting China, Nepal and India, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in Beijing on Wednesday. Wang spoke at a news conference after meeting with Nepalese Foreign Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali. “As a long-term vision, we hope to build a multidimensional passage between China and Nepal covering ports, railways, roads, aviation, electricity and communication,” Wang said. Gyawali is in China for a five-day visit starting on Tuesday. He is visiting less than two weeks after Nepalese Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Oli visited India. (China Daily)

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit China for one-on-one summit with Xi Jinping
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will travel to central China this week for an informal summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, a meeting analysts say could help the two Asian giants reset ties. (scmp)

The Waning History of Russians in Xinjiang
Cultural and ethnic fusion takes place along the borders between nations. In northwestern China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, these boundaries are blurrier than in most other parts of the world: Where China meets Russia and the Central Asian nations, a wide variety of peoples have intermingled for centuries. (Sixth Tone)

Russia's Lukoil starts up Uzbekistan gas plant for Chinese exports
Uzbekistan (Reuters) - Russia’s No. 2 oil producer Lukoil has started operations at a $3.4 billion gas processing plant at its Kandym gasfield in Uzbekistan, which is seen as central to its efforts to boost gas production and exports to China. (Reuters)

CENTRAL ASIA

Kyrgyz President Fires Government Following No-Confidence Vote

Kyrgyz President Sooronbai Jeenbekov has dismissed the government, hours after lawmakers passed a no-confidence motion against the cabinet of Prime Minister Sapar Isakov, amid an apparent power struggle between Jeenbekov and his predecessor, Almazbek Atambaev. (rferl)

Kyrgyzstan appoints new PM
Kyrgyzstan's parliament approved Mukhammedkaliy Abylgaziyev, from the majority Social Democrats party, as the country's new PM on Friday, the day after the government lost a vote of no confidence. He had been the head of the Presidential Administration. (Reuters)

Majlis Podcast: What Is Happening In Kyrgyzstan?

The latest Majlis podcast looks at new Kyrgyz President Sooronbai Jeenbekov’s removal of a series of officials left over from his predecessor’s administration.Is there a showdown coming? Has it already started? What can former President Almazbek Atambaev do now? Or is it already too late, in more ways than one, for him? (rferl)

Uzbekistan’s Pivotal Role in Central Asia

Uzbekistan plays a pivotal role in regional affairs, and it is able to do so because of its geography – and its geographic position. It is the only Central Asian state that borders every other. Like Kazakhstan, it is rich with oil and natural gas, the revenue from which has enabled it to have at least the semblance of self-determination. It is the second-largest Central Asian state by area and the largest by population. (Geopolitica Futures)

Weekly News Roundup: Dispatches from the Silk Road Economic Belt

China-Europe freight train trips grow fast in Q1

China-Europe freight trains have made 1,000 trips in the first three months, up 75% compared with the same period last year, according to China Railway Corporation. The company said the record was made because of increased rail routes and an accelerated train speed on the Chinese side. Xinhua (image: Xinhua) China-Europe freight train trips surge in Q1: China-Europe freight trains have made 1,000 trips in the first three months of 2018, up 75% compared with the same period last year, according to China Railway Corp. The company said the record was made because of an increased number of rail routes and accelerated train speed on the Chinese side. The cross-border rail network has connected 43 Chinese cities with 41 European cities in 13 countries. More than 7,600 journeys have been made between cities in the two continents since March 2011 when the service started. (Global Times)

Europe’s new ‘Eastern bloc

For Central and Eastern European countries, accession to the European Union has driven democratic reform and economic development. But after financial and refugee crises left the bloc reeling, the link between liberal democracy and social well-being is not as evident as it once was. As narratives of a decadent, failing West take hold, the rising East looks increasingly attractive. (Politico)

New freight train service linking Chengdu and Vienna launched

A new China-Europe freight train service linking southwest China's Chengdu City with Vienna, capital of Austria, was launched on 12 April. The train, carrying 41 containers of goods valued at 1.5 million US dollars, including LED displays, tires and lamps, departed from Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province in the morning of 12 April. The train will travel through Kazakhstan, Russia, Ukraine and Slovakia, spending 13 days on the 9,800-kilometer journey, and finally arrive in Vienna. (Xinhua)

Jinan launches freight train service to Uzbekistan
A new freight train left Jinan, capital of East China's Shandong province, for Uzbekistan Friday morning.The train carried 53 containers of goods valued at 23 million yuan ($3.6 million), including textile machinery produced in Shandong. It will travel about 7,300 kilometers for 13 days to arrive at its destination in Uzbekistan. (China Daily)

Russia’s $55bn pipeline gamble on China’s demand for gas
Putin pivots to Beijing with biggest energy project since fall of Soviet Union. Russia’s first eastern pipeline is the most striking physical manifestation of President Vladimir Putin’s diplomatic pivot towards China amid rapidly worsening relations with the west. When the taps are switched on in December 2019, the world’s largest gas exporter will be connected for the first time with its largest
energy importer. (FT)

Citic Resources plans stake sale to Kazakhstan
Hong Kong listed Citic Resources Holdings is negotiating with Kazakhstan to sell a significant minority stake to the country, which is preparing to play a bigger role in Beijing’s “Belt and Road” trade and development initiative, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter. (FT)

China’s Answer to the World Bank Wants Green, Clean Asian Infrastructure
Jin Liqun may not be a household name (yet), even though he has one of the most challenging and important jobs in global finance. Jin, 68, is the inaugural president and chairman of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. The AIIB, a Beijing-based multilateral development bank that opened for business in January 2016, is an embodiment of China’s aspirations to play a major role in the international financial system. (Bloomberg)

Veteran China Banker Warns of 'Belt and Road' Risks

* Li Ruogu notes that many countries involved with the 'Belt and Road' initiative have high debts and low credit ratings.Li points out that many of the countries hold “limited” attraction for foreign investors due to a lack of preferential policies in areas such as foreign exchange and taxes
The former head of one of China’s main lenders for projects related to the "Belt and Road" initiative
issued a rare warning about the dangers of investing in many countries involved in the program. (Caixin)

Is China’s belt and road infrastructure development plan about to run out of money?
The limited participation of private investors, narrow financing channels and low profitability levels were major problems, Wang said.“Countries involved in belt and road projects have low financial capabilities and high liability ratios” he said. “It is important to encourage financial innovation to raise funds to support the development of the belt and road.”He called for the creation of an international fundraising mechanism to attract private investors, and a separate system to measure the credit risks associated with each project. (Scmp)

China and Mongolia on Monday agreed to link the Belt and Road Initiative and Mongolia's Prairie Road development initiative to benefit the two peoples. http://bit.ly/2EwFMWY

China's Billions Are Set to Revive Pakistan's Dilapidated Railways
In the past decade, Pakistan’s rail network had become a byword for corruption, delays and filth. But a pledge from China has prompted authorities to overhaul its colonial-era rail infrastructure. (Bloomberg)

CENTRAL ASIA

The Rise of Regionalism in Central Asia?
Despite shared history, Central Asia has long lacked regional cohesion. That could be changing. (The Diplomat)

Nazarbayev makes surprise Nauryz visit to Samarkand, meets with Mirziyoyev
Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev paid an unannounced visit to Uzbekistan’s famous city of Samarkand March 21 where he discussed bilateral, regional and international issues with Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev. (Astana Times)

Turkmenistan banned bikini imports

The country’s president, who calls himself “the Protector,” also banned black cars because white ones bring good fortune.

Weekly News Roundup: Dispatches from the Silk Road Economic Belt

China's Sinomach to build $845 million railway in western Iran

China National Machinery Industry Corp [CNMAC.UL], known as Sinomach, has signed a contract to build a 5.35 billion yuan ($845 million) railway in western Iran, adding to a wave of Chinese investment in the country. (Reuters)

China hosts Visegrad group, calls them 'dynamic force' in EU
The four countries have been at odds with Brussels over issues including immigration and fundamental rights, with the Slovak prime minister complaining in January they should not be treated as “black sheep” in the EU.China has courted central and eastern European states, including with annual summits, which has fed concern in Western European capitals that Beijing is seeking to divide the continent. (Reuters)

Tillerson’s final warning on Belt and Road financing only proves China’s influence on the rise

The policies of the Fed, and the still-unfolding costs of the 2008 US crash, are likely to cause immeasurably more “debt distress” than China’s Belt and Road Initiative spread over the next two decades, David Dodwell said. (scmp)

Japan warms to China’s belt and road plan with talks on business tie-ups, sources say
Japan may soon become more involved in China’s multibillion-dollar belt and road plan, with the two countries expected to begin exploring business cooperation deals in third countries, according to diplomatic and trade sources. (scmp)

Shanxi police extradite Fox Hunt suspect from Tajikistan

A suspect has been returned to China from Tajikistan as a campaign to capture fugitives suspected of economic crime continues, police in Shanxi Province said Sunday.It is the first suspect that Shanxi police have brought back from Tajikistan in the Fox Hunt campaign, which targets suspects of economic crimes who fled overseas. (Global Times)

Pakistanis distressed as Uighur wives vanish in China dragnet
Islamabad (AFP) - Every autumn on the mountainous Karakoram Highway, part of the ancient Silk Road, groups of Pakistani merchants living in China's far west would wave goodbye to their Chinese wives and cross the border to spend winter in their home country.As the snow piled high, the men
would stay in touch with their families by phone, longing for the spring thaw that would allow them to be reunited in Xinjiang.But last year many of their calls suddenly went unanswered. (yahoo)

Linking China to the EU's 'gateway' for exporters
Kazakhstan seeks to become part of China's supply chain, while Poland seeks infrastructure funding (nikkei)

Is China's Belt and Road working? A progress report from eight countries

Beijing's infrastructure push clouded by project delays and mounting debt (nikkei)

China and Russia’s uneasy partnership in Central Asia
Bound by common resentment towards the overwhelming power of the West, China and Russia have grown increasingly close over the past decade. They enjoy compatible economies — Russia supplies hydrocarbons and other resources that fuel Chinese industry. They push back at the promotion of Western democracy and human rights, seeing them as threats to internal stability. Both seek to limit the presence of the West, particularly any Western military activity, in their immediate backyards — Eastern Europe for Russia, the South China Sea for China and Central Asia for both. (East asia 
forum)

Russia’s Unhappy Energy Marriage with China
With all the quiet chaos beneath the surface in Moscow, Beijing seems poised to benefit. (The Diplomat)

China Expanding in Russia’s Transbaikal—and Russian Taxpayers Are Paying for It

A new scandal is adding fuel to the fire of Russian fears about Chinese penetration of Siberia and the Russian Far East. The Russian media in those regions is reporting that in order to sell Russian agricultural products to China—something that benefits both local oligarchs and Moscow—Russian taxpayers are being forced to subsidize the sector. And those taxpayers are reportedly receiving nothing back in return, because what the Chinese are willing to pay is less than the costs Russians incur producing the food (Babr24.com, March 22, 2018; RBK, November 23, 2017). (

Pakistan’s duty concessions to China threaten local industry
Local manufacturers, who were not consulted on the plans, are up in arms as their government proposes major cuts to concessions on imports of Chinese goods. (Asia Times)

Departure ceremony of China-Europe freight train service held in Shanghai
A departure ceremony of China-Europe freight train service for cross-border e-commerce is held at Yangpu Station in Shanghai, east China, March 30, 2018. The train left Shanghai for Moscow in Russia on Friday. (Global Times)

Two Chinese militants among seven killed in anti-terrorism operation in Afghanistan
Two Chinese militants were killed in an operation by Afghan military forces in the country’s northeast on Friday, which left at least seven people dead and 13 injured, according to local media reports. (Scmp)




CENTRAL ASIA

What Turkmenistani President’s Visit to Gulf Means for TAPI Pipeline Project
Turkmenistan’s President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow visited the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait in mid-March as part of a campaign to revive a long-stalled natural gas pipeline from his country to Pakistan and India (Neftegaz.ru, March 16). The visit occurred three weeks after a February 23 groundbreaking ceremony marking the latest effort to put the Turkmenistan–Afghanistan–Pakistan–India (TAPI) pipeline back on track. (jamestown foundation)

Tajikistan Slams U.S. General’s Claim of Taliban Link
Tajikistan and Russia have hit back after General John Nicholson (pictured), the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, said he’d seen"destabilizing activity by the Russians” there.In an interview with the BBC, Nicholson said he had evidence that Russian weapons were being smuggled across the Tajik border to the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Kyrgyzstan: Atambayev Returns, Opening Up Front Against President
The former president has taken potshots at his erstwhile protege, igniting talk of a growing rift among the ruling elite. (Eurasianet)

Weekly News Roundup: Dispatches from the Silk Road Economic Belt

China upset as Interpol removes wanted alert for exiled Uighur leader
China expressed dissatisfaction on Saturday at Interpol’s decision to lift a wanted alert for an exile from its Uighur minority, a man China accuses of being a terrorist. (Reuters)

Could the SCO Expand Into the Middle East?
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization recently added India and Pakistan. Could Iran be next? (Diplomat)

China’s one-track mind in Kazakhstan

Many observers see the new dry port of Khorgos as a sign of China’s expanding influence in Central Asia. However, despite the increasing bilateral trade between China and Kazakhstan and the symbolic significance of the project under President Xi Jinping’s “iron silk road”, the dry port should be seen as the limitation, rather than the extension, of China’s railway network in the region. In the face of the unifying bloc of broad gauge networks, a Russian geopolitical obstacle, it is reasonable for China to focus on the southern route of the ‘iron silk road’ to reach Europe. This means going through Iran and Turkey, two countries with standard-gauge rail networks. In December 2017, Beijing signed a US $530 million deal with Tehran on rail, in addition to other investments and loans under the Belt and Road Initiative. (cpianalysis)
Freight train service launched between Urumqi, Naples
Thanks to a new freight train service, citizens of Naples, Italy may find it easier to buy commodities produced in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.A train carrying tomato sauce
left Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang, for Italy's Naples on Monday morning, the first between Xinjiang
and Naples. (Xinhua)

New China-Europe train service begins with 11,000 cars
Since the first cargo train set off from Daqing city, Heilongjiang province, for Belgium last June, the new China-Europe train service tailor-made for Volvo's Daqing factory has transported 10,936 China-made Volvo cars. A one-way trip takes 18 days via the 10,887 kilometers-long route, passing through Russia, Belarus, Poland and Germany, saving 28 days compared to the traditional marine transport. (China Daily)

China's flagship port in Pakistan shackled by heavy security
The port is scheduled to start transshipment on March 7. Yet, for all the fanfare, some question Gwadar's prospects amid heavy security.Balochistan is mostly off limits to outsiders and there is no visible foreign presence beyond the Chinese. Journalists and visitors are closely monitored by  Pakistan's intelligence agencies.. (Bloomberg)

Reality Check: Is Chinese an official language in Pakistan?
The claim: Pakistan has made Chinese an official language.
Reality Check verdict: False - the Pakistani parliament passed a resolution "recommending" Chinese-language courses to be taught in Pakistan, but there's no suggestion Chinese will become an official language of the country. (BBC))

China-Pakistan Economic Corridor brings economic benefits to Pakistan: report
The report, "The economic benefits of the modern silk road: The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) The report, which is based on research work and surveys, said that the unprecedented CPEC has provided 60,000 jobs to Pakistanis since 2015 and that it would create over 800,000 new jobs in different sectors up to 2030. (global times)


CENTRAL ASIA

Afghanistan ready to play connector role in Eurasian integration
The inauguration of TAPI – the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline – signals Kabul is
on-board with the grand project of Eurasian integration.

Turkmenistan's Plan B: Electricity Exports
While Turkmenistan sits on the world's fourth-largest reserves of gas, those riches are worth little without markets. (Eurasianet)


World’s Longest-Imprisoned Journalist Is Freed in Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan has freed a reporter who was incarcerated for nearly two decades on sedition charges, the longest-known prison term served by a journalist, human rights advocates said Friday.The reporter, Yusuf Ruzimuradov, 64, who worked for a newspaper banned by the Uzbek authorities, had been held since 1999. (nyt)

Afghan TAPI Construction Kicks Off, But Pipeline Questions Still Unresolved
Executives and regional leaders gathered for a ground-breaking ceremony for Afghanistan's section of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline on February 23 in the western Afghan city of Herat.Herat, and uncertainty as the ceremony there approached, provide another reminder of the doubts and questions that have surrounded the TAPI pipeline for years now. (.rferl)