Russia and China compete over Kyrgyzstan loans
Putin has promised anti-Covid vaccines and 100 million dollars. Rail and air communication channels with Moscow are increasing. Beijing extends repayment conditions of $ 5 billion in debt and seeks licenses for the Dzhetim-Too iron mine.
Moscow (AsiaNews) The first foreign trip by the new Kyrgyz head of state, Sadyr Zhaparov, was to Moscow to pay homage to Vladimir Putin. The Russian president complimented his new colleague and promised to reciprocate the visit with a trip to the former Soviet country, which according to Zhaparov "is always ready to collaborate with the Russian Federation".
The meeting, which ended on February 24, allowed to discuss the supply of Sputnik-V vaccines to Bishkek, and a credit of 100 million dollars granted by the Kremlin to the Kyrgyz ally.
Zhaparov also met with a large representation of Kyrgyz emigrants in Moscow, promising them exclusion from the "black list" of migrants in Russia, in order to obtain normal residence visas. The Kyrgyz president recommended that his fellow countrymen respect Russian laws, and announced the agreement on boosting communication, rail and air, channels which will facilitate relations between the two countries.
Russian loans and investments are particularly necessary for Kyrgyzstan, in order not to totally succumb to the growth of the national debt, which is in part preponderant towards China. Overall, the Kyrgyz foreign debt reaches 5 billion dollars, of which over 40% depends on the Import-Export Bank of China. In the last decade, China has built a series of infrastructures in the Central Asian country as part of the Belt and Road Initiative.
The Kyrgyz economy is immersed in a crisis, also due to the tragedy of Covid-19. In 2020, the country's GDP collapsed by 8.6%, and this casts doubt on the possibility of repaying not only debts, but also interest. Many in the Kyrgyz administration are proposing to sell off parts of state assets as a form of payment. Zhaparov himself, in an interview with the Kabar agency on February 13, said that "if we do not pay at least part of the debt in time, we will lose many elements of our national heritage". He blamed his predecessors for this situation, "but God willing we will get rid of these debts in time, we have plans to do so."
So far, Beijing has shown ample willingness to extend the terms of some Kyrgyzstan's credits, as well as other countries in a similar situation, not in the form of charity, but by imposing rather complex forms of negotiations in this regard. According to experts, one of the objects of the latter would be the Kyrgyz iron field of Dzhetim-Too, of which Beijing would like to obtain exclusive extraction rights.
Zhaparov is therefore called to a difficult task, in setting up the economic reforms he promised in the electoral campaign of recent months, and in the success of the equally heralded campaign against corruption. Not surprisingly, before his visit to Moscow, Zhaparov had a telephone conversation with Xi Jinping, in which the limits of the freedom of initiative of the Kyrgyz president, who was elected in the name of nationalist pride and denounces the policies of his predecessors, too subservient to Chinese interests.
Both Beijing and Moscow are now expecting a return of the Central Asian country to greater political and social stability, with a view to ordering the spheres of influence and the economic and geopolitical sectors of interest of the two giants, between the Silk Roads and Eurasian Unions.
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