[Epoch Times News on January 10, 2022](Interviewed by The Epoch Times reporters Luo Ya and Li Jing) Recently,KazakhstanLarge-scale protests broke out, and the president of the country ordered the troops to suppress it. In this regard, the leaders of the Chinese Communist Party praised the Kazakh President for his “decisiveness” and “powerfulness” in calming the situation. Some experts believe that there are multiple factors behind the outbreak of civil unrest in Kazakhstan that disturb the Chinese authorities.
KazakhstanIn the worst demonstrations in more than a decade, protesters dissatisfied with high fuel prices pointed the finger at the authoritarian government and former President Nursultan Nazarbayev and toppled its statue.
Archyde.com reported on Friday (7th) that the President of KazakhstanTokayev(Kassym-Jomart Tokayev) said that he has ordered the troops to directly fire and shoot to suppress them without warning. Kazakh President Tokayev accused foreign-trained terrorists of causing the riot, but did not provide evidence.
TokayevAlso said that at his request,RussiaThe peacekeeping force sent by the neighboring country has already arrived in the country and stayed there temporarily to ensure safety.
On Saturday (8th), Tokayev announced that Karim Masimov, the former chairman of the National Security Council, had been arrested on suspicion of “treason.” Masimov has a close relationship with former Kazakh President Nazarbayev.
Tokayev also removed Nazarbayev’s nephew and Vice Chairman of the National Security Council Samat Abish (Samat Abish), and removed several officials loyal to Nazarbayev.
The CCP supports the Kazakh president’s iron-fisted suppression
Chairman of the Communist Party of ChinaXi JinpingAn oral message was sent to President Tokayev of Kazakhstan on January 7. Xi Jinping praised Tokayev, saying that “you will take decisive measures at the critical moment to quickly calm the situation.”
Xi JinpingIt stated that China opposes external forces instigating a “color revolution” in Kazakhstan, and opposes any “attempts to interfere with cooperation between the two countries.” He also mentioned that China is willing to provide support to Kazakhstan.
In this regard, Professor Feng Chongyi of the University of Technology Sydney told Epoch Times: “As early as the Arab Spring broke out in 2011, it was after the democratic revolution overthrew the autocratic regime. The CCP learned a lesson. Wherever a democratic revolution occurs, the CCP is the first to intervene and give the autocracy. Backed by dictatorships. For example, Venezuela, some countries in Africa, and now Kazakhstan.”
“The current civil unrest in Kazakh has its background. The people’s opposition to fuel price increases is just a fuse. Behind it is the long-term corruption of the country’s government, the high-pressure situation adopted internally, the dictatorship of the leaders, and the CCP’s Belt and Road economy. Plunder and so on,” he said.
Why did the CCP express its support for the current government of Kazakhstan? Su Ziyun, a military expert from the National Defense Security Research Institute of Taiwan, said that if the Kazakh color revolution is successful, people in Kazakhstan who oppose the Belt and Road investment will converge and will surely change the CCP’s investment in Kazakhstan. All these will disturb the Xi Jinping administration. reason.
Factors behind the outbreak of civil unrest in Kazakhstan
Su Ziyun told The Epoch Times that there are two aspects worth noting behind the outbreak of civil strife in Kazakhstan:
On the one hand, the Kazakh civil strife is ostensibly because of rising energy prices, but it is actually an internal power struggle, that is, the power game between the current President Tokayev and the former President Nazarbayev.
Nazarbayev stepped down amid national protests in 2019, but still continued to control the important department of the National Security Council. The then Senate Speaker Tokayev was appointed President of the country. Tokayev now suspects that Nazarbayev united the country’s opposition forces in an attempt to overthrow the current government, and said that the demonstration was a riot.
On the other hand, first is geopolitics, because Kazakhstan is close toXinjiang. There is also energy security. At present, about 50% of Kazakhstan’s oil and natural gas are exported to China, which is geographically convenient. Second is the economy. China has invested nearly US$23 billion in the construction of the Belt and Road Initiative in Kazakhstan. If Kazakhstan’s political situation is unstable or the regime changes, China’s investment may be at risk.
In addition, there are many forces opposed to the CCP in Kazakhstan. These people believe that the CCP’s investment in the Belt and Road has laid a “debt trap” for Kazakhstan.
Su Ziyun said that we have seen almost all the surrounding situation of the CCP in an “unstable state.” In addition to Kazakhstan in the northwest, there are Afghanistan and India in the southwest, North Korea in the northeast, Japan and Taiwan in the east, and the neighboring countries of the South China Sea in the south. It can be said that Beijing’s international diplomacy model in the past ten years-economic plunder, Military expansion is the main cause of Beijing’s strategic dilemma.
Editor in charge: Gao Jing#
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