China Throws Its Weight Around Russia's Backyard

Chinese President Xi Jinping speaks during the opening ceremony of the Belt and Road Forum at the China National Convention Center (CNCC) in Beijing, Sunday, May 14, 2017. Part of China's Belt and Road Initiative will see the construction of a railway via Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan that bypasses Russia.

Former Soviet republics in Central Asia have finalized a deal to build a railway that will provide China with a trade link to Europe that reduces Beijing's dependency on Russia.

Following over two decades of negotiations, the Parliament of Kyrgyzstan ratified a trilateral agreement with China and Uzbekistan on the joint construction of the CKU railway, Russian language media outlet BigAsia.Ru reported on Wednesday. The deal was signed between the countries on June 6, and construction is expected to start in October.

The 324-mile railway connecting the three countries will cost around $8 billion and is part of China's global infrastructure development strategy the Belt and Road Initiative. It will provide a vital trade route for the landlocked Central Asian republics that are in Moscow's sphere of influence. Newsweek has contacted the Russian Foreign Ministry for comment.

The railway is expected to cut the route from China to Europe by 560 miles, shortening transit times for freight by an estimated eight days, and significantly, avoiding Russia and its Trans-Siberian Railway, the International Railway Journal (ICJ) reported.

The line will run from Kashgar in China via Torugart, Makmal and Jalalabad in Kyrgyzstan to Andijan in Uzbekistan will have new logistics infrastructure including freight terminals and warehousing and carry 15 million tonnes of freight a year.

As The Diplomat reported in July 2022, five months after Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine, the CKU will be a conduit to Europe that bypasses Russia, which is important amid Western sanctions on Moscow due to the war.

Since the conflict started, some firms have stopped using Russian territory as a transit country, either in response to Russian aggression or due to the worsening business environment in the country, the Jamestown Foundation, a Washington, D.C., think tank, said in April 2022.

"The CKU railway gives China the chance to diversify its trade routes, reduce its dependence on Russian routes, and maintain sustainable rail trade with EU countries," The Diplomat said. "China can keep its rail trade with the EU sustainable and offset its losses in the Northern Corridor passing through Russian territory."

In reporting the railway on Thursday, the Beijing government mouthpiece China Daily emphasized how the railway would be an alternative route to Europe to Russia. It said that, on May 25, "a significant event occurred," in which the 90,000th trip was made on the China-Europe freight rail link that opened in 2011.

This was mainly through its northern route via Kazakhstan and Russia, but the new railway will create "the shortest land route between the two economic centers of the Eurasian continent along the Middle Corridor."

China Daily said increasing rail volume "shows that developing an additional rail transport route between China and Europe, this time through Central Asia, the Caspian Sea, and the South Caucasus, will be economically feasible."

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