Central Asia is tilting more decisively towards China as geopolitical uncertainty deepens, with Beijing’s expanding influence recasting the former Soviet states’ strategic orientation. In the second of a three-part series, Victoria Bela looks at how Kazakhstan is adopting China’s green tech and expertise to fight desertification, restore ecosystems and decarbonise industries. Read the first part here.

Across the sweeping plains of Kazakhstan’s Karaganda region, construction began last month on a massive AI-powered wind farm born from a joint Kazakh-Chinese venture.

The 500-megawatt capacity project, capable of powering hundreds of thousands of households, stands as a monument to Beijing’s evolving ambitions and investment in Central Asia.

This latest investment wave is mainly driven by the Belt and Road Initiative, a global economic and trade network with China at its centre. Once defined by the construction of ports, pipelines, roads and rail, China’s belt and road strategy has pivoted in terms of its geographic focus and the types of projects it builds.

In this new era of the initiative, defined by a push into mining and energy, Central Asia has emerged as the belt and road’s main regional partner. And Kazakhstan, the birthplace of the belt and road, now serves as the primary frontier of this transition.

Beyond direct investment under the framework, the relationship between Astana and Beijing is also deepening through hi-tech environmental cooperation, scientific and technological exchanges and a deepening portfolio of joint ventures.

Yerlan Nyssanbayev, Kazakhstan’s minister of ecology and natural resources, told the South China Morning Post on the sidelines of the Regional Ecological Summit last month that the country had “very close contacts” with China and was working with Beijing “on many fronts”.