BISHKEK. July 12 (Interfax) - China has increased its economic presence in Central Asia, Valentin Bogatyryov, head of Perspektiva think tank, said at a roundtable titled "Central Asia: searching for its own path," on Thursday.
Very soon China's infiltration into Central Asia will be "aimed primarily at advancing its own products on the regional markets and active participation of Chinese companies in the development of deposit fields and hydropower projects," the political analyst said.
"China also needs the region to transit its goods to Russia and the European Union. This is proved by the project for construction of a railway linking China, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. All these projects are more appealing to regional elites than is the U.S. presence, because they involve economic, not political aspects," the expert said.
"Thanks to the Chinese presence, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan have been able to enter major international energy markets and thus to a certain extent provide for their own energy independence," Bogatyryov said.
"All Central Asian countries have a possibility to get hefty grants and loans from China, which is extremely important in the currently unstable global socio-economic situation," Bogatyryov said.
In recent years, the Kyrgyz economy and a majority of the country's population "have survived mainly at the expense of selling Chinese products," he said.
"Obviously, very soon the Chinese economy will be setting the main trends for economic development in the Central Asian countries," the expert said.
As for the U.S. policy in the region, "the U.S. is implementing two large projects in Central Asia," Bogatyryov said. "The first one is the process of forced democratization. Kyrgyzstan has become the best regional pupil in this project, though democratization turned out to be unsuccessful," he said.
"However, the introduction of democratic mechanisms fell victim to the second U.S. project - provision of transit routes for entering Afghanistan. For the sake of this project, the U.S. authorities have even turned a blind eye on how democratic principles are being observed in the region," Bogatyryov said.
"Regardless of the decision of the Kyrgyz government on the U.S. Transit Center at Bishkek's airport, the U.S. will still preserve its military presence in Central Asia," the analyst said.