Diplomatic ties between Astana and Beijing developed shortly after the collapse of the former Soviet Union, with both countries moving on to co-found the Shanghai Cooperation Council.
China has invested nearly 30 billion US dollars in the country’s mining, oil, agriculture and transport sectors and provided loans and expertise to help build up Kazakhstan’s railroad network. In turn, this has helped extend the export of Chinese goods around the world.
“It goes without saying that we have a lot of programs together with China. We needed to increase the carrying capacity of our infrastructure to promote this silk way,” said Sanzhar Yelyubayev, vice president of Kazakhstan National Railway Company.
China has contributed more than 600 million US dollars to the Khorgos dry port on the Kazakh-Chinese border, which has seen more than 3.1 billion US dollars in investments since it began operating in April 2012.
However, some Kazakhs fear what China’s economic input could mean for this country’s independence.
“I think one of the possible challenges is the challenge of perception. There is certainly a lack of understanding,” said Iskander Akylabyev of Kazakhstan's Department of Foreign Policy and International Security. “We might speak about the West, New York, Milan or Europe more than we speak about Dalian, Tianjin or other countries.”
