China |
Kyrgyzstan |
As of 1996, China-Kyrgyzstan relations were an area of substantial uncertainty for the government in Bishkek.[1] The free-trade zone in Naryn attracted large numbers of Chinese businesspeople, who came to dominate most of the republic's import and export of small goods.[1] Most of this trade is in barter conducted by ethnic Kyrgyz or Kazakhs who are Chinese citizens.[1] The Kyrgyzstani government has expressed alarm over the numbers of Chinese who are moving into Naryn and other parts of Kyrgyzstan, but no preventive measures had been taken as of 1996.[1]
The Akayev government also must have been solicitous of Chinese sensibilities on questions of nationalism because the Chinese do not want the independence of the Central Asian states to stimulate dreams of statehood among their own Turkic Muslim peoples.[1] Although the Kyrgyz in China have been historically quiescent, China's Uygurs (of whom there is a small exile community in Kyrgyzstan) have been militant in their desire to attain independence.[1] This is the major reason that Kyrgyzstan refused to permit the formation of an Uygur party.[1]
In the 1990s, trade with China grew enormously.[1] Patricularly important is the re-export of Chinese consumer goods to the neighboring Uzbekistan (mostly via Karasuu Bazar at Kara-Suu, Osh Province) and to Kazakhstan and Russia (mostly via Dordoy Bazaar in Bishkek).[2] Due to its linguistic and cultural affinity with the Chinese (particularly, Hui) people, Kyrgyzstan's small Dungan community plays a significant role in the trade.
In some political quarters, the prospect of Chinese domination stimulated nostalgia for the days of Moscow's control.[1]
Recent events in Kyrgyzstan have been of great concern to China, not only because of the issue over the Uygurs, but also due to problems with narcotic trafficking.[3] During the 2005 Tulip Revolution China considered developments in Kyrgyzstan so important that they raised the possibility of deploying combat forces.[3] In 2010 a spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China stated that 'we are deeply concerned over the developments of situation in Kyrgyzstan and hope to see early restoration of order and stability in the country and that relevant issues can be settled through the legal means.'[3] A joint anti-terror exercise was scheduled for the autumn of 2010 between the two countries that would include 1,000 army and air force officers and soldiers from China.[4]
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