Kyrgyzstan

Tavan Tolgoi holds estimated reserves of 7.5 billion tons of coking coal. (Photo by Byamba-Ochir Byambadorj)
Markets

Mongolian state coal miner chooses Hong Kong for $3bn IPO

Listing a victory for exchange after forecasts that 2019 offerings would plunge

10 January 2019
A man protests outside the State Palace in Ulaanbaatar on Wednesday @Byamba-Ochir Byambasuren
Politics

Mongolia shaken by widening loan scandal

Business owners protest over preferential benefits for officials

16 November 2018
A Chinese worker is seen during an inauguration ceremony for the Kazakh stretch of the Turkmenistan-China pipeline, outside Almaty.
Commodities

Kazakhstan to double gas exports to China in 2019

Trade war and new infrastructure open door to send 10bn cu. meters

28 October 2018
BRI in progress: A freight train bound for Malaszewicze, Poland leaves the railway port in Yiwu, Zhejiang province, China.
Economy

China's Belt and Road investment hits high as overall FDI falls

Record sum poured into initiative in 2017 looks set to be beaten this year

8 October 2018
A security officer holds out a detector on a street in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang in 2013.
Interview

Exiled Uyghur leader seeks UN Security Council action on China

About 3m people are being held in detention camps in Xinjiang, says Dolkun Isa

23 September 2018
© Illustration by Luis Mendo
Asia Insight

Kazakhstan seeks sweet spot in US-China-Russia power game

'Friends with everyone' diplomacy tested as heavyweights compete over Caspian Sea

4 September 2018
Beijing funded this China-Turkmenistan pipeline for natural gas. Turkmenistan may have trouble repaying its debts to China as gas exports drop sharply.
Belt and Road

Belt and Road debt trap spreads to Central Asia

China exploits rift between US and Russia to court Ukraine

29 August 2018
A nickel mine in the Philippines. President Rodrigo Duterte's government is pushing for a new tax on minerals.
Commodities

Flare-up of resource nationalism burns miners across Asia

Governments risk repelling companies with new levies and other pressure

25 August 2018
Taliban fighters gather with residents to celebrate a cease-fire during the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Fitr in mid-June, in Nangarhar Province, east of Kabul, Afghanistan.
Datawatch

Was Afghanistan's cease-fire underpinned by Ramadan?

Data shows lower levels of violence during fasting month

19 August 2018
A freight train bound for Tehran is pictured in China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in May.
Belt and Road

Turkey crisis rattles Asian nations with rising Belt and Road debts

Costly Chinese projects could leave emerging economies with a hangover

19 August 2018
Foreign students at the Narita campus of the International University of Health and Welfare. Since its launch in April 2017, the university has accepted 40 foreign students from nearly 10 Asian countries and regions.
Economy

Japan's first new medical school in four decades aims to be Asia hub

In a system resistant to change, a maverick doctor challenges the status quo

13 August 2018
Workers position a dome during the construction of the Tianwan nuclear power station in China's Jiangsu Province. The Tianwan station uses a reactor designed by Russia. (Getty Images)
Energy

Russia on an international offensive to sell its nuclear plants

Vladimir Putin's government vies with China to become a superpower in the field

12 August 2018
Taliban in the Ghanikhel district of Nangarhar province, Afghanistan on June 16
International relations

US-Taliban ties a way in Afghanistan to keep out IS and boost trade

Prospects for central Asian energy flow remains dim without peace

1 August 2018
Chinese and Kazakh flags flutter in Tiananmen Square in June, marking Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev's visit to Beijing. Sayragul Sauytbay was detained at China's request. 
International relations

Kazakhstan-China deportation case sparks trial of public opinion

Kazakhs demand Astana protect woman who exposed Beijing's 'state secrets'

26 July 2018
A Chinese national flag is affixed to a buffer stop on a railway at a freight yard in the Kazakh border town of Khorgos.
Belt and Road

China's Belt and Road stirs up local anxieties

Loans and investments ignore profits and blur economics and security

24 July 2018
China's President Xi Jinping and Russia's President Vladimir Putin shake hands during the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Qingdao, Shandong Province, China, on June 10.
Comment

China and Russia build anti-US 'axis,' but Moscow has concerns

The relationship between the two powers has huge implications for the world

11 July 2018
Kyrgyzstan's President Sooronbai Jeenbekov, left, shakes hands with China's Premier Li Keqiang in Beijing on June 7. 
International relations

Kyrgyzstan grows wary of China amid corruption probe

New president repairs links with neighbors after debts to Beijing soar

4 July 2018
Tavan Tolgoi holds estimated reserves of 7.5 billion tons of coking coal.  (Photo by  Byamba-Ochir Byambadorj)
Commodities

Mongolia revives plan for billion-dollar coal mine IPO

Government yet to choose overseas venue for Tavan Tolgoi listing

28 June 2018
A Chinese flag is seen on the end of a railway track at the Khorgos Gateway in Khazakstan. The country is trying to diversity sources of inward investment.
Opinion

Kazakh foreign investment must not come from only one source

Companies from Japan, South Korea and Malaysia besides China are all welcome

19 June 2018
From left, Mongolia’s former prime minister, Batbold Sukhbaatar; Deputy Finance Minister Bulgantuya Khurelbaatar; Erdembileg Ochirkhuu, first deputy governor of the central bank; and Zorigt Dashdorj, adviser to the minister of Foreign Affairs, discuss the prospects and potential for the country's economy, on June 12 in Tokyo. (Photo by Taro Yokosawa)
The Future of Asia 2018

Commodities recovery tests Mongolia's commitment to reform

Senior officials claim progress on financial stability and diversification

12 June 2018
Former Mongolian Prime Minister Sukhbaatar Batbold speaks about the growth potential of smaller economies at the Future of Asia conference in Tokyo on June 11. (Photo by Taro Yokosawa) 
11 June 2018
Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, greets Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on June 8.
International relations

China-led Shanghai grouping offers challenge to G-7

From North Korea to Iran, the SCO's unity contrasts with Western rancor

9 June 2018
Aisholpan Nurgaiv starred in the 2016 documentary "The Eagle Huntress." (Photo by Odbayar Urkhensuren)
Life

A girl and her eagle help bridge Mongolian ethnic divisions

Documentary on huntress sparks interest in once-spurned minority

3 June 2018
GDP per capita in Kazakhstan, left, is approximately seven times the level in Kyrgyzstan. (Anadolu Agency/Getty Images/Nikkei)
Economy

Central Asia's north-south divide

The numbers behind the differing fortunes of five former Soviet republics

31 May 2018
A Taiwanese student, right, practices serving customers at a Lawson convenience store in Tokyo. (Photo by Ken Kobayashi)
The Big Story

Part-time saviors: Foreign students help plug Japan's labor gap

Convenience stores and delivery companies are among the biggest beneficiaries

30 May 2018