The Telegraph: China Has Taken Over Russia's "backyard"

• 19.10.2025, 16:55

A quarter of a century ago, the situation was exactly the opposite.

China's trade with Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan will more than double the trade turnover of the same countries with Russia by the end of 2024. Beijing has seized "Russia's backyard," writes the British newspaper The Telegraph, commenting on the figures.

In 2024, Russia's trade turnover with Central Asian states will exceed $45 billion, Vladimir Putin told the Russia-Central Asia summit in Tajikistan on October 9. According to the Chinese agency Xinhua, China's trade with the countries of the region last year amounted to $94.8 billion.

A quarter of a century ago, the situation was exactly the opposite. In 2000, Russia's trade with Central Asian countries was more than five times higher than China's trade with the region, The Telegraph wrote. Russia's trade with Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan in 2000 was $9 billion, while China's was $1.7 billion. In 2010, Russia's trade with Central Asia was one and a half times higher than its trade with China - $15 billion versus $10 billion.

Chinese trade in Central Asia has grown rapidly since Beijing's One Belt, One Road program was launched in 2013, The Telegraph notes. In 2015, China's trade with Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan reached $30 billion, while Russia's reached $18.6 billion.

The growth of China's role in Central Asia's foreign trade has accelerated even more over the past three years, The Telegraph writes. While Moscow's attention has been diverted away from the region, Beijing has filled the vacuum by not only signing more and more resource supply agreements with Central Asian countries, but also by building infrastructure across the region. The goal is obvious: to ensure that China, regardless of the geopolitical situation, can ensure uninterrupted transit of goods to Europe and other global markets, The Telegraph writes.

After Russia's invasion of Ukraine, China has made much less use of the Northern Corridor (transit of goods to Europe via Russia by rail), as many Western logistics companies fear sanctions and avoid logistics routes through Russia. At the same time, due to geopolitical tensions, Beijing has started to use the Southern Corridor (the sea route through the South China Sea, the Indian Ocean and the Suez Canal) much less.

China is concerned that in case of a serious conflict - primarily over Taiwan - the US Navy may block the Strait of Malacca, which connects the South China Sea with the Indian Ocean, according to the publication. Twenty-five percent of the world's goods exports, including 80 percent of China's oil imports, pass through this strait every day.

This explains China's growing investment in Central Asia as a transit route: when Beijing needs to support its export economy, it is much easier to control routes in dependent countries than to negotiate with the US, The Telegraph writes. Beijing is funding the construction of railroad infrastructure in Central Asia and investing in ports on the Caspian and Black Seas, while using its political and financial clout to "bring in line" the states through which the Middle Corridor passes.

Context. Despite often overlapping foreign policy interests, Russia and China remain rivals in Central Asia, The Telegraph writes. The countries of the region were part of the Soviet Union, and Russian remains one of the main means of communication here. Nevertheless, it is China that now has a clear commercial advantage here, the publication says.