Relations with China are highly sensitive
Many Kazakhs do not share this enthusiasm. They are leery of China’s economic influence: it controls more than one-fifth of Kazakhstan’s oil output and is expanding into other areas, including manufacturing, construction and chemicals. They worry about the opacity of China’s projects, the possibility that Kazakhstan will not be able to repay related loans and the use of imported Chinese labour.
During the latest anti-China protests the Kazakh authorities detained 100 protesters, including a man whose prosthetic leg became detached as he wrestled with police—a scene that caused outrage on social media. Most were freed without charge but nine were given short prison sentences. They join 29 others who were jailed for taking part in anti-China protests earlier this month.
Officials have declared the rallies in violation of stringent public-assembly laws . But the authorities stated straightforwardly that their main reason for clamping down was the encouragement the protests have received from Mukhtar Ablyazov, a Kazakh oligarch based in France. He makes no secret of his desire to stoke unrest in pursuit of “regime change”. The government, in turn, has banned Mr Ablyazov’s Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan movement and treats supporters as criminals.
Mr Ablyazov has plenty of grievances to tap into. Since the resignation in March of Nursultan Nazarbayev, who had ruled the country since 1989, there have been sporadic protests against everything from the stage-managed election that resulted in victory for Mr Tokayev , to the renaming of the capital, Astana, as Nur-Sultan in honour of the ex-president, who is thought to still call the shots from behind the scenes.
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