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Sherry Wang

As President Xi Jinping hailed a cross-border railway project via Kyrgyzstan during his visit to the Central Asian country, Beijing is accelerating efforts to expand railway links with neighbours – from Mongolia to Vietnam – to boost regional trade and hedge against rising geopolitical risks.
Meeting with Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov in Bishkek on Monday, Xi stressed the importance of building a “high-quality China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway”, describing it as “a major transportation artery that carries the region’s hopes for development”, according to state news agency Xinhua.
Xi and Japarov pledged in a joint declaration on Monday to ensure the railway’s timely completion while creating favourable conditions to guarantee its traffic volume and operational efficiency.
“The railway is more than just a transit line – it is a strategic lever reshaping the regional landscape,” said Li Lifan, an expert on Russia and Central Asia at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.
“For China, it creates a safer and more efficient supply chain; for landlocked nations like Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, it presents a historical opportunity to transform into land-linked hubs.”
The railway is part of China’s expanding cross-border network under the Belt and Road Initiative, as Beijing steps up infrastructure investment to strengthen trade links and regional connectivity across Asia, Africa and Europe.
The China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway appears more valuable in the current environment as geopolitical uncertainty has increased the value of diversification in transport routes
Zoey Wang, Fitch Ratings
The push has taken on added importance as geopolitical conflicts, including the US-Israeli war on Iran and the Russia-Ukraine war, have disrupted supply chains and traditional shipping routes, increasing the value of safer alternatives for moving goods.
“The China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway appears more valuable in the current environment as geopolitical uncertainty has increased the value of diversification in transport routes,” said Zoey Wang, director of global infrastructure and project finance at Fitch Ratings.
Wang added that resilience had become a key consideration in infrastructure assessment, with neighbouring cross-border rail projects viewed through the same lens.


The China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway, spanning more than 500km (310 miles) and due for completion in 2031, will run from Kashgar in China’s far western region of Xinjiang through Kyrgyzstan to Andijan in eastern Uzbekistan.
Once completed, it was expected to become the shortest land route linking China with Central Asia, reducing the rail distance from East Asia to southern Europe by 900km and saving seven to eight days in transit time, state media reported.
Elsewhere, construction of a second railway crossing between China and Mongolia was more than halfway complete as of Thursday, Chinese state media reported.
The 9.91km line, running from Ganqimaodu port in Inner Mongolia to Gashuun Sukhait in Mongolia’s Omnogovi province, will link Mongolia’s largest coal deposit with China and is expected to carry about 30 million tonnes of cargo annually when it opens in 2027.
The rail push is also gathering pace in Southeast Asia.
Last week, Vietnam’s National Assembly committed more funds to a major line linking its northern border with China. The 391km line will connect the port city of Haiphong to Lao Cai, a mountainous city bordering southwestern China’s Yunnan province, while passing through the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi.
In July, during Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul’s visit to China, both sides agreed that enhanced connectivity was a key driver for economic integration and shared growth across the region.
They pledged to accelerate construction of the first phase of a 609km railway connecting Thailand with China via Laos, while launching its second phase as soon as possible.
The China-Laos railway, which opened in December 2021 and runs from Kunming, Yunnan’s capital, to Vientiane, has already become an important link in the regional network.
In the first half of this year, it carried 11.2 million passenger trips and 12.32 million tonnes of freight, including 188,000 cross-border passenger trips, up nearly 26 per cent from a year earlier, according to China State Railway Group.
Within China, the high-speed railway network was increasingly becoming a major draw for foreign visitors. Nationwide, Chinese railways carried 12.3 million passenger trips by foreign travellers in the first half, up 33.6 per cent year on year, according to the company.


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China’s Kyrgyzstan rail pledge highlights wider drive to knit Asia together and strengthen trade links


China’s Kyrgyzstan rail pledge highlights wider drive to knit Asia together and strengthen trade links.


‘Carries the region’s hopes’: Xi hails Kyrgyzstan project as China ramps up railway push

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}China’s Kyrgyzstan rail pledge highlights wider drive to knit Asia together and strengthen trade links

China’s Kyrgyzstan rail pledge highlights wider drive to knit Asia together and strengthen trade links