The Chinese dragon's 'gifts' to Dusanbe

The balance of trade between the two countries has increased by 10% in the past year, exceeding USD 1 billion. Tajiks import machinery and equipment of all kinds from China and export raw materials. There are currently 580 companies with Chinese capital working in the country. But the other side of the coin is the 60% of foreign debt now in Beijing's hands.

Dushanbe (AsiaNews) - For several years now, China has been playing a decisive role in the economy of Central Asia as a whole, with a policy of investments and credits that increasingly binds these countries to Beijing, in a manner that varies according to the areas and individual states. If in the more advanced ones, the interests are mainly in the sphere of advanced technologies and scientific research, in the developing ones, the market is rather focused on raw materials and natural resources, which an ever-expanding power like China needs more and more.

Another specific interest is in logistics, to exploit the potential of transit corridors for foreign trade and to guard against possible isolation by international competitors and adversaries. Central Asian countries such as Tajikistan have many resources to offer, but the level of logistical and industrial infrastructure is decidedly limited, and attracting foreign capital is vital for them. And Chinese ones are much easier to obtain than Western ones.

China does not demand that its investments be accompanied by conditions such as democratic reforms or changes in the politics of the countries in which it intervenes. The Chinese build railways, highways and ports, factories and housing complexes, schools and access to water resources, so problematic in this region, always in the primary pursuit of their own interests, and certainly not out of altruism.

Chinese companies do everything themselves, bringing in their own technology, workers and engineers, and one of the countries where they find it easiest to do this is certainly Tajikistan. The balance of trade between Beijing and Dushanbe in the past year has increased by 10% to over a billion dollars. Tajiks import all kinds of machinery and equipment, building materials, consumer goods such as clothes, furniture and everyday items from China, and export mostly raw materials such as rare and precious metals, cotton, various textiles and dried fruits.

According to data from Dushanbe's deputy minister for economic development, Farkhodom Vosidijonom, Chinese investments in Tajikistan between 2007 and 2023 reached USD 3.34 billion, and 580 companies with Chinese capital are currently working in the country, dealing with sectors such as communication, construction and financial services, geological and high-altitude research, the assembly of technological equipment, and much more.

There are also many Sino-Thai joint ventures for the extraction of mineral resources such as iron, copper, antimony, gold and silver, such as the Zerafšan company, in which the Chinese hold 75 per cent of the shares, or Pakrut, in which the Chinese have owned the entire share package since 2014.

In the field of building materials, the Chinese cement production company Čungtsai Mokhir Tsement together with others is very important in Tajikistan, producing 85% of all cement in the country, of which a large part is for export. With an investment of USD 300 million, the road between Dushanbe and Čanak was reopened, as well as other sections connecting the capital with many areas in all latitudes of the country, with the opening of large tunnels, enabling the power systems of the central part of Tajikistan to be connected with some peripheral areas.

Sixty per cent of Dushanbe's foreign debt, over USD 2 billion, is to China, and this will mark the country's destiny for many years to come. Beijing does not need to occupy Central Asian countries like Tajikistan, because it is in fact already the master of them.