Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, Feb 17, 2020 (AFP)
A Chinese investor that planned to pour nearly $300 million into a trade and logistics centre in Kyrgyzstan said it had quit the project on Monday over local protests.
Men on horseback were among those rallying against the construction of the facility in a remote mountainous region -- the latest show of anger over Beijing's growing influence.
The company said it believed it was "impossible" to push the project through "when part of the local population opposes the construction".
"We are therefore forced to make a decision to close (the project)," said the company -- registered formally as Kyrgyz-Chinese Free Economic Zone "At-Bashy".
The deal for the logistics centre was agreed during a visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to the Central Asian nation last year.
It was set to host a cluster of small businesses and factories that would have enjoyed trading preferences.
The company claimed the project would have employed 15,000 people by the time it became operational and said it planned to invest nearly $280 million.
A police spokesman in Kyrgyzstan's central Naryn region said more than 1,000 protesters took part in the demonstration.
Local media reports showed images of protesters, including riders on horseback carrying Kyrgyz flags.
"We won't give Kyrgyz land to China," placards at the demonstration read.
A government representative who requested anonymity told AFP that protesters had been misled by rumours that the joint Kyrgyz-Chinese company in charge of the facility would keep the land it is being built on rather than leasing.
Protesters had threatened "real steps" if authorities did not cancel the project by March 1, an activist called Amanbol Babakulov told AFP.
In August last year, clashes between Kyrgyz villagers and Chinese employees at a Chinese-owned mine in Naryn left around 20 injured and sparked diplomatic condemnation from Beijing.
In 2016 neighbouring Kazakhstan saw nationwide rallies stirred by fears that a land reform would allow Chinese investors to take over Kazakh land.
The country's authoritarian leadership abandoned the reform while cracking down on the protests.
Both ex-Soviet countries border China and are part of Beijing's sweeping Belt and Road Initiative to build a massive global trade network.

Sumber : AFP