Blanka Benkő-Kovács

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.

For most observers, Tajikistan is the forgotten country of Central Asia. It has neither Kazakhstan's vast oil reserves nor Uzbekistan's economic dynamism. It is not the region's demographic powerhouse, nor is it the largest recipient of Chinese investment. Yet Beijing has quietly transformed Tajikistan into one of the most revealing examples of what the Belt and Road Initiative can achieve and what it can cost.

Five years after the Taliban returned to Kabul, the most important question surrounding Afghanistan's international position may no longer be who formally recognises its government. A more revealing question is who is willing to deal with it as one. And the answer is more surprising than we would first think.