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Central Asia
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Central Asia

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Central Asia
Central Asia
News from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan.
A China-Europe goods train departs from Tongjiang, Heilongjiang province, on December 9, 2025. Photo: Xinhua
China-EU relations

Opinion | Middle East shipping crisis elevates China-Europe railway’s profile

Geopolitical strife has taken the China-Europe railway from an alternative to an essential part of continental connectivity.

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China travel

Chinese travellers flock to Central Asia as flight bookings soar by 120%

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US, Israel war on Iran

Pakistan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Egypt: the Middle East’s new power brokers?

Belt and Road Initiative

As US-Iran war chokes Hormuz, can ‘Middle Corridor’ rise to the rescue?

Logistics route via Central Asia, South Caucasus, Caspian Sea and Turkey said to be ‘experiencing massive operational momentum’.

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With global medical supply chains proving fragile, the Middle Corridor is being held up as a potential vital route for rapid humanitarian aid. Photo: Future Publishing via Getty Images
Hong Kong economy

Hong Kong minister urges long-term view, says Middle East investment unaffected

Minister Algernon Yau urges businesses to avoid short-term thinking, says Hong Kong entrepreneurs are discerning in assessing opportunities.

Banking & finance

Kazakh sovereign fund issues Central Asia’s first panda bond in ‘milestone’ sale

Samruk-Kazyna chairman says issuance marks ‘an important milestone in strengthening the strategic partnership between Kazakhstan and China’.

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China energy security

China turns to central Asia as US blockade in Hormuz chokes global energy flows

Chinese vice-premier to visit major gas field in Turkmenistan as Beijing aims to shore up energy security and diversify away from volatile maritime routes.

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In this 2013 image, President Xi Jinping stands alongside a model of the purification plant in Turkmenistan’s Galkynysh gas field during an opening ceremony. Photo: Getty Images
Science

Open Questions | What an ancient Chinese map reveals about global history: Sheng-Wei Wang

Kunyu Wanguo Quantu and maritime artefacts prove China explored the world earlier than Eurocentric accounts suggest, scholar argues.

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Kazakhstan

Opinion | Why China is looking to Central Asia as Middle East grows riskier

The region’s strategic value as a corridor of resilience is becoming harder to ignore.

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US, Israel war on Iran

Trump faces a dilemma in the aftermath of failed US-Iran peace talks: analysts

The two countries are still far apart on the big issues, with American midterms looming and no quick way out.

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Iran and the United States failed on the weekend to reach an agreement to end the war in the Middle East. Photo: AFP
Xinjiang

Why has China mapped out a third new county in Xinjiang on its western frontier?

Cenling county, near Pakistan and Afghan borders and disputed frontier with India, follows Hean and Hekang as Beijing boosts security.

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A visitor takes a photo at a China-Pakistan border crossing checkpost, high in the Karakoram Range in Xinjiang. Photo: EPA
Afghanistan

Afghan mother demands answers after son dies in Pakistani hospital bombing

Human rights groups have called for an independent investigation into the March 16 strike on a drug treatment centre that killed 411.

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Afghanistan

Afghanistan wants US$10 billion in trade deals with Central Asia

Central Asia’s typical trade routes through Russia are hampered by heavy sanctions, while the Taliban is trying to trade with the world despite international sanctions.

Diplomacy

Opinion | Why India is quietly deepening its engagement with the Taliban

New Delhi’s courtship of Kabul is powered by realpolitik as the imperatives of security, strategy and connectivity converge.

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Afghan refugees recently returned from Pakistan and Iran receive rations donated by the Indian government, in Kabul, Afghanistan, on May 18, 2025. Photo: EPA-EFE
US, Israel war on Iran

Iran war and rogue drones force European aviation safety rethink

As the Middle East conflict clogs flight corridors between Asia and Europe, EASA chief warns of ‘hybrid warfare’ risks.

A Boeing 747 plane takes off from Dubai International Airport in the United Arab Emirates earlier this month. Photo: EPA
Art

9 artists to look out for at this year’s Art Basel Hong Kong

From Kazakh warrior sculptures to speculative films by Andrew Thomas Huang and Ayoung Kim, these are the artworks defining this year’s programme.

Hong Kong economy

Hong Kong firms face profit squeeze as US importers cut orders amid oil crisis

City’s business leaders also say government should bolster ties with Central Asia and Asean nations to diversify market risks.

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US, Israel war on Iran

How long will US-Israel war on Iran last? Chinese analysts offer clues

Iran’s drones gaining edge as opponents burn through costly missiles, analysts note, as one labels the war a ‘serious mistake’ by US.

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Smoke and flames rise at the site of air strikes on an oil depot in Tehran, capital of Iran, on March 7. Photo: TNS
Pakistan

Pakistan announces 5-day pause on Afghan strikes for Eid

The temporary ceasefire comes after Monday’s hospital strike, the deadliest in an escalating conflict between the two neighbours.

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Afghanistan

‘People were burning’: 400 dead after Pakistan strikes hit Kabul hospital

Pakistan rejected the accusation, saying its air strikes on eastern Afghanistan did not hit any civilian sites.

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Mainland China

Beyond a ‘buffer zone’: how the Iran war is recalibrating Central Asian ties

The former Soviet republics are leveraging diplomatic fallout from conflict to assert autonomy and balance major powers, observers say.

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Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has mobilised the army and recalled diplomats from Tehran following Iranian drone strikes that hit an airport in his country. Photo: AFP
China trade

As Iran war hits trade hubs, China’s logistics firms rush for alternatives

Disrupted Middle East transit routes squeeze sector, pushing freight costs higher and pressuring supply chains.

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About half of China’s oil comes from the Middle East, underscoring the importance of the Strait of Hormuz (pictured, with anchored LPG gas tanker on Wednesday), which also serves as a crucial trade corridor for the country’s exports. Photo: Reuters
Food and Drinks

Why horse meat and nomadic tea rituals anchor this new eatery in Central

For the Kazakh founders of Yurt, opening the new Central Asian restaurant was written in the stars.

Iran

How far could the war with Iran spread beyond the Middle East?

From Turkey and the Caucasus to South Asia, analysts warn the war could ignite new flashpoints along regional fault lines.

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US, Israel war on Iran

Azerbaijan vows to respond after Iranian drones injure 4

Azerbaijan and Iran already have tense ⁠relations over Baku’s growing economic, energy and military ties to Turkey and Israel.

A school in Julfa following, what Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry says was a drone attack carried out by Iran, on its exclave of Nakhchivan. Photo: AP
War and conflict

Opinion | Pakistan’s forever war and the politics of exhaustion

What Pakistan needs is not war with Afghanistan but urgent efforts to fix its economy, security and divided society after disruptive decades.

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People gather around the coffin of an army soldier, killed in the border clashes between Pakistani and Afghan forces, during a funeral prayer in a village in Lakki Marwat, a district of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on February 28. Photo: AP
US, Israel war on Iran

China caught between Iran and Gulf states as Tehran strikes across Middle East

In 2023, China mediated a peace deal between Riyadh and Tehran, but the ties are being tested as Iran targets sites in Saudi Arabia.

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China energy security

Why the Iran war will accelerate China’s push to become an ‘energy powerhouse’

The conflict does not pose an immediate threat to China’s oil supply, but will spur on the country’s energy security drive, analysts say.

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