Residents of Kazakhstan told about their attitude towards China

Askar Kysykov, Director of the TALAP Center for Applied Research Public Foundation:

"The perception of China among Kazakhstanis is improving. It has improved over the past three years. The estimates have almost doubled. This improvement is observed in all blocks: in economic terms, geopolitical influence and cultural."

As part of the study, more than 1,600 Kazakhstanis were interviewed. It turned out that 77% of respondents believe that China has recently had a significant influence on the world stage. 80% have a positive attitude towards the development of relations with China in the economic sector.  Kazakhstanis are also interested in the culture of their neighbor. Thus, more than 50% of the survey participants read articles and watched documentaries about China.

Rahim Oshakbayev, Chief Economist of the TALAP Center for Applied Research Public Foundation:

"We are very careful about the quality of the research, the methodology, and the sample. And we see quite good progress, taking into account that we need to look not only at investments, trade, but also at a fairly high and stable level of mutual trust at the political level."

Leading sociologists, experts from the Kazakhstan Institute for Strategic Studies and researchers from the Institute of China and Modern Asia of the Russian Academy of Sciences highly appreciated the importance of the study.  According to experts, the experience of Kazakh colleagues is useful not only for the development of relations between Kazakhstan and China, but also will strengthen Russia's cooperation with these two countries

Dmitry Novikov, Head – Leading Researcher at the Center for Central Asian Studies of the IKS RAS:

"The topic of the conference is extremely interesting, probably even more so for us, for the Russian expert community. Because, of course, we are very closely following the dynamics of the Chinese presence in the region, the dynamics of relations in key countries of the regions with China, insofar as this is an extremely significant factor both for regional dynamics and in the context of Russian-Chinese relations."

According to experts, the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to Kazakhstan in 2022 had a great impact on the perception of China by residents of the republic. During the state visit, the head of the Celestial Empire stated that China intends to support Kazakhstan in protecting its sovereignty and independence. In addition, China is a major investor in the economy of Kazakhstan, which contributes to the development of cooperation between the two countries.