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Turkmenistan

Turkmenistan
The latest news, analysis and opinion on Turkmenistan. In-depth analysis, industry insights and expert opinion.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (left) arrives in Astana for the second China-Central Asia Summit in June 2025. He was welcomed at the airport by Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. Photo: AFP
Central Asia

China’s expanding footprint in Central Asia

From addressing critical water security fears to driving a regional green tech revolution, Beijing is cementing its role as an indispensable partner to Central Asia. This three-part series investigates China’s expanding influence in the region amid global geopolitical uncertainty, exploring how new investments and diplomatic ties are reshaping the Central Asian landscape.

US, Israel war on Iran

As Iran war stokes water security fears, Central Asia could turn to China

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China energy security

Putin is pushing for a ‘serious’ new energy deal in China. Will he get it?

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Middle East

‘Structural shift’: new routes for Middle East freight to bypass Hormuz

Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the UAE lead a push for a new trade architecture with multiple nodes linking the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea.

The port of Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates on April 17. Photo: EPA/The UAE Presidential Court
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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Central Asia

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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Central Asia

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.

Afghanistan’s Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi (centre, back), along with representatives from Central Asian states, takes part in the Afghanistan-Central Asia Consultative Dialogue at the Foreign Affairs Ministry in Kabul on Sunday. Photo: AFP
Central Asia

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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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.

Hong Kong transport

Hongkong Post’s airmail services to 24 countries affected by strikes in Middle East

Public postal service suspends airmail to Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates, affecting ‘services transiting through these locations’.

Residents mail parcels at the General Post Office in Central in May 2025. Photo: Elson Li
Central Asia

Trains through the Taliban: Central Asia’s plan to bypass Russia and Iran

The Soviet Union severed Central Asia’s ancient trade routes to the Indian subcontinent. The region’s modern-day leaders want them back.

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A Taliban guard walks along railway tracks near a TAPI pipeline construction site at the Afghanistan-Turkmenistan border in 2024. Photo: AFP
China-Russia relations

As Central Asia builds ‘smart cities’ with China, is it moving away from Russia?

Lack of Russian involvement in the mega-projects is seen as part of a broader structural shift as the region moves ‘closer to the world’.

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Japan

Steppe in the right direction? ‘Japan is back’ in Central Asia with new summit

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and the leaders of five Central Asian nations are expected to establish a new framework for cooperation in AI.

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Donald Trump

Trump expands US travel ban and restrictions to include another 20 countries

The clampdown affects people seeking to travel to the US as visitors as well as those hoping to emigrate there.

People protest at Los Angeles International Airport in June, on the first day of the Trump administration’s full ban against travel from 12 countries and a partial ban on seven others. Photo: AFP
United States

US pauses all immigration applications from 19 countries

The pause applies to people from nations that were already subjected to a partial travel ban in June.

Women gather next to an anti-US mural in Tehran. The list of countries targeted in the US memorandum includes Iran. Photo: West Asia News Agency via Reuters
US-China relations

Opinion | As US and China turn their eyes to Central Asia, Russia loses out

The region that has traditionally been in Russia’s geopolitical orbit is turning into a new arena of competition between the US and China.

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Donald Trump

Trump hosts Central Asian leaders as US eyes sources for critical minerals

The C5+1 summit marks Washington’s effort to expand influence in a resource-rich region long dominated by Russia and increasingly courted by China.

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SCO

Foreign leaders ride the rapid rails of China’s tech prowess after SCO summit

Blazing from Tianjin to Beijing on China’s signature high-speed railway, several state leaders are given a glimpse of rapid and lucrative modernisation efforts.

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Nepali Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli arrives in Beijing on Tuesday. He is among more than a dozen state leaders who took a high-speed train to Beijing this week to attend Wednesday’s Victory Day parade. Photo: Xinhua
Malaysia

Out of the line of fire: Malaysian evacuees’ 1,000km escape to safety from Iran

A convoy of 17 Malaysians and one Singaporean endured a harrowing 24-hour overland journey across Iran to reach safety as violence escalated.

Central Asia

Opinion | Why China’s Central Asian footprint is about to get bigger

Boosted by proximity and broad policy objectives, Beijing is slowly gaining the upper hand in the region over Moscow and the European Union.

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Central Asia

Editorial | Central Asia friendship pact bolsters stability

President Xi Jinping stresses need for cooperation at summit between China and five states amid economic and geopolitical tensions.

Chinese President Xi Jinping delivers a keynote speech during the second China-Central Asia Summit in Astana, Kazakhstan. Photo: Xinhua
Central Asia

China’s influence is growing in Central Asia. What does that mean for Russia?

Beijing focuses on development as it avoids challenging Moscow as Central Asia’s dominant power and security guarantor, analysts say.

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Chinese President Xi Jinping delivers a keynote speech during the second China-Central Asia Summit in Astana, Kazakhstan on Tuesday. Photo: Xinhua
Central Asia

China and Central Asian leaders cap summit with friendship pact and aid pledge

Beijing commits more than a billion yuan to a region at the heart of its infrastructure and security interests.

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Israel-Iran conflict

China’s Xi urges Israel, Iran to ‘de-escalate’, says Beijing can be peacemaker

President Xi Jinping’s remarks during talks with Uzbek counterpart come as China begins to evacuate nationals from Iran and Israel.

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Diplomacy

Xi boosts China ties in resource-rich Central Asia

A summit with five leaders from Central Asia offers President Xi Jinping the chance to snap up more raw materials for China’s economy in a region once viewed as Russia’s backyard.

Photo: Xinhua
Central Asia

Xi Jinping heads to energy-rich Kazakhstan for China-Central Asia summit

Xi is looking to foster solidarity with his counterparts against unilateralism and protectionism.

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Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev (left) greets Chinese President Xi Jinping as he arrives in in Astana for the second China-Central Asia Summit. Photo: AFP
United States

Trump’s new travel ban takes effect, citizens of 12 nations barred from US

Ban comes amid rising tensions over the US president’s escalating campaign of immigration enforcement.

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China-Russia relations

Opinion | How China became central to Russia’s Victory Day parade

Russia may have hoped to send the message that it is not isolated but the event’s list of expected attendees is not entirely convincing.

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