China has long been criticised for not being green enough. Not pursuing the global climate goals, while continuously emitting more and more GHG. For years, much of the international debate – especially in the West – framed China primarily as the world's largest polluter, often overlooking the country's distinct development priorities and its own evolving approach to the green transition. Because a lot has changed since President Xi Jinping first mentioned his "clear waters and green mountains" endeavor. The concept has since grown into a foundational doctrine guiding China's green transition and sustainable development initiatives, which now the country successfully exports to outbalance any major competitors in terms of the green transition. This article provides a broad overview of China's green ambitions in Central Asia.

To understand a region, one must first understand its people. Global attention has increasingly turned toward Central Asia in recent years. Yet much of today's discussion revolves around tangible strategic interests: transport corridors, critical minerals, energy security, and competition among major powers. While these issues dominate contemporary policy debates, they represent only one layer of a region whose significance has long been recognised by generations of scholars. Researchers regarded Central Asia not as a remote periphery, but as one of Eurasia's defining historical and cultural spaces, shaped by centuries of migration, linguistic exchange, cultural interaction and shared historical experiences.