Micha’el Tanchum, Shalem College
East Asia Forum - 10 July 2014
On 29 May 2014, the presidents of Kazakhstan, Russia, and Belarus signed
a treaty establishing the Eurasian Economic Union (EaEU). One week
prior, Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev and Chinese President
Xi Jinping announced investment agreements worth US$10 billion. The
timing of the two events reflects Nazarbayev’s determination to use
Kazakhstan’s burgeoning economic relations with China to counterbalance
possible Russian domination. The most
telling sign of this intention was the announcement of a US$1 billion
loan from China to modernise Kazakhstan’s Shymkent oil refinery.
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