Chinese Economic Presence in Kazakhstan: China's Resolve and Central Asia's Apprehension

In the course of only a decade, Kazakhstan has become China’s second biggest partner behind Russia in the post- Soviet space. Economic relations between Astana and Beijing are characterised by a considerable imbalance of power that is of concern in some political and expert circles in Kazakhstan, while the tremendous opportunity for development offered by China’s proximity brings hope that the country might be extricated from the crisis that followed the dissolution of the Soviet Union.