Why China Want Tajikistan’s Lands – Burning Issues – Free PDF Download

A BIT OF HISTORY

• The Tajikistan Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR) was among the last republics of the Soviet Union to declare its independence. On September 9 (1991), following the collapse of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), Tajikistan declared its independence.

TAJIKISTAN

• Religion-97.8% Islam
• Officially the Republic of Tajikistan
• While the state is constitutionally secular, Islam is practiced by almost 98% of the population.
• Population 91 Lakhs

CHINA’S CLAIMS

• China has had a long standing territorial claim on about 28,500 square kilometres (11,000 square miles) of Tajik territory since 1884.
• Point to note –when Tajikistan was part of USSR, the People’s republic of China never bothered to stake claim of its land publicly

CHINESE PRESSURE ON TAJIKISTAN

• Tajikistan after independence needed Chinese investments and loans to grow
• China was welcoming of this demand but soon started making aggressive claims over Tajik land
• The government of Tajikistan bowed down in 2011 and gave away a lot of land to China

NOTES

• Beijing holds more than half of Tajikistan’s $2.8 billion external debt, which is equal to 35.9 percent of gross domestic product. In the past, Tajikistan has paid off debts to China by ceding mining rights, and even 0.7 percent of its land. Since joining the Belt and Road Initiative in 2017, Tajikistan has seen its trade imbalance with China grow from 12 percent of GDP in 2016 to 22 percent in 2018.

ECONOMY OF TAJIKISTAN

• GDP of Tajikistan
• $8.152 billion (nominal, 2019 est)
• Forcomparison–Nepal’sNominalGDPis$29.813 billion

ARTICLE FROM 2011

TAJIKISTAN LANDGIFTTO CHINA

• The Tajik foreign minister said that this represented 5.5% of the land that Beijing had sought.
• 1,000 sqkm was given to China
• For comparison Mumbai’s size is 603.4 km²

CHINESE SOLDIERS IN TAJIKISTAN

• Chinese troops have been present in Tajikistan since approximately 2016, with the purpose of monitoring access to the Wakhan Corridor.

THE CHINESE HUNGER GROWS

• This past month, official outlets of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) repeatedly republished an article by Chinese historian Cho Yao Lu, who says that the entire
• Pamir region belonged to China at one time and consequently, he implies, Tajikistan should now or in the future return it to Beijing.

PAMIR REGION

DETAILS

• Dushanbe has demanded that Beijing renounce this article and stop publishing others like it, and Russian outlets have sharply criticized what they suggest is an effort by the Chinese to test the waters regarding potential future border changes (Stanradar.com, July 27; Ozodi.org, July 20; Lenta, July 24; Rossaprimavera.ru, July 25).

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