Description
The Central Asian countries of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan are a particularly strategic region for China since they constitute a bridge between Asia and Europe. They are particularly important due to their potential in the context of expanding transport and energy corridors (like the New Eurasia Land Bridge, China-Central Asia-West Asia Corridor). Currently, under the BRI umbrella, in addition to these sectors, a new corridor related to environmental diplomacy is being implemented. This research concerns China's green soft power under the BRI umbrella towards two Central Asian countries that are considered soft power receivers - Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. This research was carried out as part of the Environmental Diplomacy as a Soft Power Instrument: China and the Belt and Road Initiative project financed by the Polish National Science Centre (grant number 2020/39/D/HS5/02769). New case studies were distinguished as part of the project - Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Pakistan. To analyse this research problem in the context of all receivers, four basic hypotheses were formulated in the project: (i) Environmental diplomacy has become a more potent and consequential instrument of soft power since the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro; (ii) China is expanding its soft power toolkit to an unprecedented extent within the BRI. This has given rise to competition between old and new soft powers, (iii) There is discrepancy between China's multilateral and bilateral diplomacy performed under the BRI umbrella; (iv) The perception of China's soft power strategies that employ environmental foreign policies and environmental diplomacy by the stakeholders under the investigation is shaped by the perceived attractiveness of the ease of doing business with China, as well as complex domestic contextual factors. It is in the context of these project hypotheses that I will try to answer the research questions concerning Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan: (i) In what context and conditions does China address environmental risks and opportunities related to the transport and energy infrastructure under the BRI in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan? (ii) How does Chinese environmental diplomacy work as a soft power source in those states? (iii) What mediators (NGOs, think tanks, media, state institutions) are used under the BRI umbrella in the context of green soft power? (iv) What kind of projects and initiatives are implemented there? (v) What is the reception of China and its environmental diplomacy? The following research methods were used to investigate these issues: Desk research – thorough literature of existing Chinese soft power papers and policies generally concerning Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan; Content analysis of primary and secondary sources about environmental opportunities and risks linked to energy and transport infrastructure in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan; Field work - IDIs with experts on this matter, soft power mediators and soft power receivers, opinion shapers in those states.
