Abstract:

The Republic of Kazakhstan (RK), with its significant amount of natural and human resources and strategic location in Central Eurasia, has been in focus of the Central Asian policy of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) since the collapse of the Soviet Union. As Beijing is trying to gain more impact and resources for its economy, different strategies are being used, including multilateral initiatives (such as “Belt and Road”), financial diplomacy (with Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank as the pivotal instrument) and soft power (intensive development of bilateral and multilateral cooperation in the field of education, culture, sport, etc., as well as the promotion of Chinese culture). The economic and political interaction between Kazakhstan and China is well-researched in world sinology, while the proliferation of PRC’s soft power still requires research and systematization in terms of the newest trends, especially in the field of education, as this sphere contributes a lot to the propagation of China’s interests, values and to fostering of Chinese lobbyism in the region.

Beijing has started to pay a great attention to the education sphere in its cooperation with the post-Soviet Central Asian states in the beginning of the 21st century. Inside the PRC, the central government launched a number of initiatives in order to raise the competitiveness of national universities, especially in Xinjiang region, the closest to post-Soviet states, to attract more students from abroad and to promote Chinese language and culture in the region. The international cooperation has also evolved, becoming more intensive and efficient.

The aim of this paper is to analyse the China – Kazakhstan cooperation in the field of education. The paper discusses the following dimensions of bilateral interaction: the student exchanges, the systems of grants and scholarships, used by the governments of the two countries, the ties between Chinese and Kazakh universities in the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, the spread of Confucius Institutes and other programmes of Chinese language study in the RK, as well as additional tools of cooperation, such as summer schools and youth forums or conferences. Finally, problems, occurring in bilateral cooperation, are also displayed, as the education sphere has not avoided such violations, as discrimination and corruption. Nevertheless, the interaction is developing, with both sides interested in its perspectives. As a result, the paper is trying to define the impact of education sphere on China’s soft power in Kazakhstan and to come to conclusion about the factors of Beijing’s success in this field. The role of education in migration processes between the two countries is also considered. The paper argues, that cooperation in the field of education comes as an essential part of China’s long-term and well-designed soft power strategy towards Kazakhstan and post-Soviet Central Asia on the whole, which is aimed at the extension of the PRC’s influence in the region and the enlargement of social basis for the support of its policy, in spite of the problems occurring in the interaction.

The paper is based on published bilateral and multilateral documents, a wide range of Kazakh and Chinese media sources, expert polls and relevant sinology studies.

Keywords:

China, Kazakhstan, post-Soviet Central Asia, cooperation, education, soft power.