‘The Chinese will always stand by the people of Kazakhstan’, China says

China’s Foreign Ministry said “the Chinese will always stand by the people of Kazakhstan”, according to a January 12, 2022, statement from ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin. Referencing a recent phone conversation between China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, the spokesman said “more and more information” seems to suggest that the unrest in Kazakhstan was caused by external forces. He was referencing unrest in Kazakhstan starting on January 2, 2022, over proposed fuel hikes that has escalated into violence that has killed at least 164 people. Kazakhstan’s president has claimed the protesters were foreign-backed terrorists. The Chinese foreign minister also said Beijing will firmly oppose any deliberate attempt by external forces to provoke unrest.