The labor migrants are trying to return home after losing their jobs in the coronavirus pandemic. Tensions are rising, and a protest on the border has been violently broken up by Russian police.
Even with coronavirus serving as a belated impetus to push through long-stalled reforms, the five members of the Eurasian Economic Union show limited willingness to help each other.
Trade has plummeted, Chinese goods are disappearing from markets, and exports of China’s favorite Central Asian commodity – natural gas – have nosedived.
The region is tightening belts and preparing for pain. But there are reasons to hope the trickledown from Russia won’t be as bad as last time, in 2014.
Central Asia claims zero cases of coronavirus, but the economic symptoms are everywhere. This and more in our monthly briefing on Chinese business in the region.