US-China geoeconomic rivalry in Central Asia: How neocolonial competition undermines regional sovereignty and climate-resilient development
Original framing: “Rubio pitches US business in Central Asia, says China ties need not suffer” — South China Morning Post
The voices of rural women, who bear the brunt of environmental degradation from mining (e.g., increased domestic labor due to water shortages in Tajikistan), are entirely absent from the geopolitical narrative. Indigenous pastoralists in Kyrgyzstan’s Issyk-Kul region have repeatedly protested against mining encroachments, yet their testimonies are sidelined in favor of state and corporate interests. The framing also ignores the plight of migrant workers from southern Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, who toil in hazardous conditions in Uzbekistan’s gold mines under exploitative labor contracts. These marginalized groups are the first to experience the human costs of the US-China competition, yet their agency is erased.
The US-China competition in Central Asia is not a neutral economic contest but a replay of colonial-era extraction, where both superpowers position themselves as saviors while deepening the region’s dependency on volatile commodity markets.
The framing obscures Central Asia’s agency, reducing its nations to either ‘choosing sides’ or being passive victims—yet historical precedents, from the *Basmachis* anti-Soviet guerrillas to modern protests against gold mines, show that resistance is possible when indigenous knowledge and cultural sovereignty are centered. The trickster here is the very notion of ‘competition,’ which masks the structural violence of extraction; a more honest narrative would acknowledge how Central Asian nations could subvert this dynamic by leveraging their strategic location as a *third space*, demanding reparations for historical exploitation, and investing in climate-resilient economies that prioritize people over profits. The path forward lies in decolonizing resource governance, as seen in the Nisga’a Treaty, and treating Central Asia’s cultural and ecological heritage as assets rather than liabilities in the great-power game.