Chinese Investment and Anti-Chinese Sentiment in Eurasia

• In Event: The Intersection of Great Powers and Local Populism in Eurasia

Abstract

China's economic presence in Central Asia has grown rapidly over the past decade. China is now Central Asia's leading trade partner and source of Foreign Direct Investment, far outpacing Russia's once leading economic role in the region. And with billions in forthcoming investment from Beijing's Belt and Road initiative, China's economic weight in Central Asia continue to steadily grow. China's growing presence in the region, critically however, is not universally welcome among Central Asians. While Central Asians have long viewed Russia favorably, they are skeptical and, at times, outwardly antagonistic toward China. More than two-thirds of Central Asians, according to Gallup's latest World Poll, hold a positive view of the Russian leadership, whereas only forty percent view of survey respondents view Beijing favorably. Anti-Russia protests, moreover, are unheard of in Central Asia. Anti-China protests, in contrast, are common place. Both Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan have seen mass protests against purported Chinese designs to buy or take control over Kazakh and Kyrgyz lands. Perceptions that Chinese infrastructure investments are subpar and rife with corruption are commonplace. And the ill-treatment of Central Asian minority populations in China have elicited widespread anger. Curiously, while Central Asians migrant workers are often poorly treated in Russia, while many Russian investments in Central Asia have proven to be no less and often more corrupt than Chinese investments, and while Russian President Vladimir Putin has questioned the territorial legitimacy of Central Asian states, most notably the territorial legitimacy of Kazakhstan, Central Asians remain warm to their neighbor to the north. Our paper explores this variation in both Central Asian public and state elite attitudes toward the two great Eurasian powers. We detail Russia and China's initiatives in Central Asia over the past two decades. We investigate how these initiatives are received. And we conclude with an exploration of the anti-Chinese populism that is building across Central Asia.

Authors

• Eric McGlinchey, George Mason University

• Wendy Chen