China’s Business in Central Asia: Power and Anxiety

Chinese business expansion is bringing about fundamental changes to Central Asia. This growing influence has sparked widespread local protests which are likely to amplify the political liabilities of the ruling elites across the region. Drawing from over 60 interviews in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and China in 2018 and 2019, former Wilson Center Fellow Gül Berna Özcan will analyze how power anxieties and economic dependencies bring new tensions to Central Asia’s economies.