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Image source,EPA
Large-scale protests and demonstrations broke out in the Kyrgyz capital on successive days after the October 2020 parliamentary elections.
Kyrgyzstan, a neighboring country to China and a “comprehensive strategic partner,” Kyrgyzstan’s internal political situation is turbulent. Could one of the important Belt and Road exports be blocked?
In early October, under the impact of large-scale protests and riots that broke out in the days after the elections, Kyrgyz Prime Minister Boronov and Speaker of Parliament Rumabekov resigned and resigned.
The day before, opposition leader Sadr Zaparov, who was released from prison, served as acting prime minister. The already opposition-controlled parliament also elected a new president, Mektek Abduldayev. But the localities have announced their own leaders.
Facing mounting pressure, the Kyrgyz Central Election Commission also announced that the results of the parliamentary elections held in early October were invalid and a re-election date was set within two weeks.
The new corona epidemic is also an unexpected factor that caused Kyrgyzstan to slide into political chaos.
The election caused an abrupt change in the political situation
The original result of the general elections in early October was that the party allied with the country’s president, Surenby Zhenbekov, obtained the most votes. Only 4 of the 16 political parties that participated in the election passed the threshold to enter parliament. Three of these four parties are closely related to President Reenbekov. But some people accused them of fraudulent elections.
Subsequently, large-scale protests involving some 5,000 people took place in the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, and relatively small protests broke out in the other two cities, demanding that the president resign.
Despite police repression, the protesters, led by former President Atambayev’s son Kadir, successfully stormed the presidential palace and the parliament building and occupied the office building of the National Security Council.
The protesters released former President Atambayev and other former government officials who were charged with corruption and sentenced to 11 years in prison.
Political prisoners, including Zaparov, who was sentenced to 11 years in prison for kidnapping a district governor at an opposition protest seven years ago, were also released.
Kyrgyz officials said that the protests had caused one death and 686 injuries. The electoral agency declared the results of Sunday’s parliamentary elections invalid.
President Zhenbekov remains in power and addressed the country on the 6th, noting that some political forces are trying to take power illegally. But he said he had given orders not to shoot and not to bleed.
He told the BBC that he was also willing to hand over the power of attorney, but did not specify who to hand it over to.
Image source,EPA
The protest demonstrations plunged the situation into chaos.
Economic difficulties and ethnic conflicts
Kyrgyzstan has suffered coups in 2005 and 2010, and protesters have successfully toppled leaders and governments accused of corruption.
By the end of 2019, Kyrgyzstan’s economy was developing rapidly and was once one of the best-performing countries in Central Asia. In August, foreign exchange reserves reached $ 3 billion, the highest level since the creation of the Central Bank.
However, due to the impact of the new corona epidemic, the economy began to decline dramatically in 2020. Since the last negative growth caused by the internal regime change in 2010, negative growth has occurred again, the currency has been sharply depreciated and people’s lives have been seriously affected.
Although Kyrgyzstan has a population of only about 6 million, about a million people work abroad, representing a fifth of the country’s population. The blockade and economic recession in countries like Russia have also affected the living conditions of migrant workers from Kyrgyzstan.
In addition, Kyrgyzstan has more than 80 ethnic groups and the ethnic and tribal composition is complex. The original ethnic and regional contradictions have never been resolved.
Along with long-standing social problems such as official corruption, various conflicts erupted along with dissatisfaction with the parliamentary elections.
Strategic position
Kyrgyzstan borders China’s Xinjiang to the east, Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, and Tajikistan to the southwest.
The country is a member of the Kyrgyz Eurasian Economic Union and the Collective Security Treaty Organization; It is also a member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the Islamic Cooperation Organization, the Turkish-Speaking Countries Cooperation Committee, and the International Organization of Turkish Culture.
Image source,AFP
Kyrgyz local police arrested 21 people during the anti-China demonstration in 2019.
Kyrgyzstan has close ties with Russia and the United States at the same time. The United States Air Force Base at Manas is located near the capital, Bishkek.
Since ancient times, China and Kyrgyzstan have had close political and economic ties for a long time. According to research, Li Bai, a poet from the Tang dynasty in China, was born in Shattered Yecheng, Kyrgyzstan.
Now, China is Kyrgyzstan’s largest trading partner and the largest source of investment. Kyrgyzstan is one of the first countries to support and actively participate in China’s “One Belt One Road” construction.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping also visited Kyrgyzstan in 2019 and attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit.
As early as 1997, China proposed the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway, one of the important projects of the Belt and Road Initiative. China, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan signed a memorandum on the matter: it will become the shortest freight route from China to Europe and the Middle East, and improve Kyrgyzstan’s strategic position is also of great importance.
However, due to changes in the internal political situation in Kyrgyzstan, the support of the previous government has always been rejected by the next government, and other factors have delayed this project.
Concerns from Xinjiang, China
As China’s Xinjiang neighbors, Xinjiang also has Kyrgyz (same origin as Kyrgyzstan), Hui (that is, Dungan in Kyrgyzstan) and, like Kyrgyzstan, there are also Kazakhs, Uzbeks (Uzbeks), Tajiks, and Russians. And other ethnic populations.
Chinese officials emphasized that security cooperation is an important part of China-Kyrgyz relations, and China and Kyrgyzstan jointly assume responsibility for maintaining regional peace, security and stability.
Image source,Xinhua News Agency
Although the China-Europe railway has been opened to Kyrgyzstan, the construction of the China-Kyrgyzstan-Ukraine railway has been affected by the internal affairs of Kyrgyzstan.
Chinese academics noted that the turbulent situation in Kyrgyzstan is often exploited by extreme separatist forces, and China is also concerned that Kyrgyz civil unrest will affect the stability of Xinjiang.
Regarding the latest civil unrest in Kyrgyzstan in October 2020, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hua Chunying said: “China is very concerned about the current situation in Kyrgyzstan. As a friendly neighbor and comprehensive strategic partner, China sincerely hopes that Kyrgyzstan will conduct dialogue and consultations in accordance with the law. Properly solve the problem and promote the stability of Kyrgyzstan as soon as possible. “
Hua Chunying also said: “China has always respected the development path chosen by the Kyrgyz people based on their own national conditions, strongly supported the policies and measures adopted by Kyrgyzstan to safeguard independence, sovereignty and security, and resolutely opposed to external interference in the internal affairs of Kyrgyzstan. “
