US Secretary of State Marco Rubio sought to strike deals across resource-rich Central Asia and reverse Chinese inroads in a region long dominated by Russia. Uzbekistan holds vast deposits of rare earths and critical minerals, while neighboring Kazakhstan is the world’s leading producer of uranium, accounting for 40% of supplies.
Rubio promised on his visit to the region that the US was offering long-term deals in a part of the world Washington has historically undervalued. But so too is China, which is also expanding its cultural footprint in the region: Ever more Central Asians are learning Chinese, with many convinced it’s “the language of the future,” the Jamestown Foundation wrote.
