Central Asia

Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan: The Poorest Countries in Central Asia Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are probably the most dependent on Russia of all the Central Asian states. Some 1.1 million migrant laborers from Kyrgyzstan and 1.6 million from Tajikistan worked abroad...

The existence of the Republic of China in Taiwan as a separate entity from the People’s Republic of China in Beijing is the single largest threat to the survival of the Chinese Communist Party. For years, Beijing has pursued...

In response to the Kremlin’s war on Ukraine, the European Union is moving to wean itself off Russian natural gas. While the move makes sound geopolitical sense, cutting off Russian gas supplies has already caused economic pain. Before the...

  Despite the attention in Washington currently paid to developments in Ukraine and the Taiwan Strait, terrorism remains a threat to US national security. The recent counterterrorism strike against Ayman al-Zawahiri in Kabul highlights that the fight against al-Qaeda,...

“Senseless and baseless.” That was how a top Chinese official described claims that China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which officially launched in 2013, had caused economic hardship in developing countries. Indeed, much has been written about the potential...

In January, everything changed in Kazakhstan. A series of demonstrations rocked the country, spreading from its oil-rich west to the commercial and cultural capital, Almaty. The protests exploded out of long-simmering demands for a fairer distribution of Kazakhstan’s wealth...

Editor’s Note: This article by FPRI contributor Ecaterina Locoman is a product of a workshop on “The Global Order after Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine,” hosted by the University of Pennsylvania’s Perry World House on April 14, 2022.   Russia’s invasion...

The contest for control of northern Afghanistan between the Taliban, the Islamic State, and other terrorist groups is a major security concern for the states of Central Asia. Since the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,...

For all its years of independence, Kazakhstan has worried about Russian irredentist dreams of Kazakh territory. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, such concerns seem well-founded. They have heard such threats coming from Russian officials and some Russians in Kazakhstan...

    Executive Summary  In the early years of diplomatic relations between the People’s Republic of China and Central Asian countries (roughly 1992-1999), bilateral security discussions strictly focused on the then-looming influence of a Uyghur-led independence movement in Xinjiang....