Description
Chinese investments in Uzbekistan have recently expanded from the extraction of raw materials to manufacturing. Qualitative interviews conducted in Uzbekistan in 2022 and 2024 found that this new form of Chinese investment is considered to be helping Uzbekistan move up the value chain through the transfer of technology and know-how. The production of electric vehicles (EVs) in the free industrial zones is a case in point. This article engages with the literature on the new state capitalism to problematise this perspective. This literature identifies a clear empirical tendency for the state to intervene in the economy including as owner of capital leading to state-led investment and production via industrial policy. First, the article inscribes China-Uzbekistan relations in the framework of new state capitalism. Second, it contributes to this framework by highlighting that, while industrial development indeed occurs, it does so based on production for the domestic market and, often, of technology that has become obsolete for the global market. Third, this results in stunted forms of development, which, for Uzbekistan appear in the ongoing mass migration of parts of the population. This is because they are unable to find formal industrial jobs in the country due to the limited scale of domestic industrial manufacturing. As such, the article showcases the potential limits to China-led development in the state-owned car manufacturing sector in Uzbekistan.
