Central Asia is increasingly aligning with China, reshaping its strategic orientation within the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. The bloc's response to US-Iran tensions is influenced by this growing Chinese influence.

Central Asia is tilting more decisively towards China as geopolitical uncertainty deepens, with Beijing’s expanding influence recasting the former Soviet states’ strategic orientation. In the final instalment of a three-part series, Cao Jiaxuan examines how Central Asian members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation have shaped the bloc’s response to the US-Iran conflict. Read the first part here and the second part here. As Kyrgyzstan gears up to host the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation...