2022-06-30

OSCE Academy and IWPR organize a Joint Expert Round Table

On 30 June 2022, the OSCE Academy and IWPR organized a joint round table on the topic “Perceptions of China in Central Asia: problems and perspectives” in a hybrid format. Experts discussed how debt trap affects cooperation between China and the countries of Central Asia, what China is doing to improve its image in the region and how effective its soft power is.

The event comprised of two parts followed by Q&A from the online and offline audience.  In the first session Raffaello Pantucci, Senior Fellow, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Singapore, Senior Associate Fellow, Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), United Kingdom, delivered a keynote speech on how China responded to a recent developments in Eurasia and how China is going to forward across this region. Specifically, the speaker covered Chinese reaction to instabilities in Central Asia and fall of Kabul to the Taliban last year. The sedond part of the event was devoted to a panel discussion on “Perceptions of China in Central Asia: problems and   perspectives.” Temur Umarov, Research Consultant, Carnegie Moscow Center, Research Fellow, OSCE Academy in Bishkek; Aizat Shailoobek, Senior Research Assistant, OSCE Academy in Bishkek; and Nargiza Muratalieva, IWPR, CABAR.asia analytical reports editor, Kyrgyzstan, shared their insights on China's presence in Central Asia, Sinophobia in Kyrgyzstan, China's soft power in Kyrgyzstan.