Beijing’s Counterterrorism Efforts in Central Asia: Protecting Economic and Strategic Interests

China regards Central Asia—Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan—as a critical region to secure Beijing’s increasing economic, energy, and security interests.  Stability and security in Central Asia are not only necessary to assure economic and strategic interests but also to protect against potential spillover from Afghanistan—including terrorism and political instability—that could destabilize China’s West. To protect against such disruption, China has actively expanded its profile as a key security player in Central Asia, using the header of counterterrorism. 

China’s security impression in Central Asia has principally been demonstrated through the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). Established in 2001 as a successor to the “Shanghai Five,” the SCO is a multilateral platform with a primary objective of security-related cooperation among partners; this is employed especially for what China considers as the fight against the “three evils”—terrorism, separatism, and religious extremism. The SCO’s counterterrorism ambitions are largely funnelled through the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS).

In 2018, during the SCO Qingdao summit, new guidelines were introduced that were intended to increase intelligence sharing and facilitate extraditions between member states based on terrorism backgrounds. Through the SCO, China has participated in 10 joint exercises in Central Asia between 2002 and 2019—exercises that helped Chinese security forces gain important operational experience and project power and influence far beyond China’s borders. Over the past two years, China has also been increasingly bold on counterterrorism issues at the United Nations; though a permanent member of the Security Council, China has not traditionally led contemporary policy initiatives on counterterrorism in that venue. 

In September 2019, the UN Security Council hosted a discussion on the contribution of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, Commonwealth of Independent States, and Shanghai Cooperation Organization in opposing terrorist threats. In March 2020, it was China that spearheaded a Security Council Presidential Statement on terrorism in Africa, pulling on their extensive development investments and security claims in the continent. These are reflective of more proactive Chinese attention in multilateral organizations, where Western powers have traditionally overlooked the counterterrorism and security space.

In recent years, China’s security inroads in Central Asia have widened in scope as well as practice, expanding beyond the SCO and counterterrorism as vehicles for safety engagement within the region. China’s security actions in Central Asia include joint multi-and bi-lateral training, drills, and exercises for military and security forces, weapons and military technology sales, capacity building, military diplomacy, a military outpost, joint border operations, and the usage of private security contractors. 

Between 2014 and 2019, China has performed at least 10 bilateral military exercises with Central Asian countries. Since 2016, the People’s Armed Police of China has employed a military outpost in the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region on the Tajik-Afghan border. In 2014, China delivered Kyrgyzstan with $16 million in military aid, and two years later, professed aid to Tajikistan to build 11 border posts along the Afghan-Tajik frontier. By 2019, Zhongjun Junhong, a Chinese private security contractor, had confirmed contracts with over 20 Chinese clients working in Kyrgyzstan, including state-owned initiatives like the China Road and Bridge Corporation.

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