An article published on the Chinese website toutiao.com stated that
Kyrgyzstan historically belonged to China.
A Kazakh blogger and activist Serikzhan Bilash translated the publication into
Kazakh language and published a video. The title of the Chinese publication
is "Why didn't Kyrgyzstan return to China after gaining independence?"
The article says that since the Khan Dynasty, Kyrgyzstan has been the
territory of China for a thousand years, but the Russian Empire took over
these lands.
In total China lost almost 510,000 square kilometres. The whole of Kyrgyzstan
is inside the territory that was lost.
The article says that in fact, Kyrgyzstan, like Mongolia, has long been the part
of China.
The Chinese publication also says that all Kyrgyz people were wealthy when
their land was part of China. Now it is one of the poorest countries in the
world.
The office of the Chinese publication tuotiao.com, is reported to be located in
Beijing. The publication directly cooperated with the Chinese authorities. Its
readership is believed to the around approximately 750 million.
Kyrgyzstan has borrowed approximately USD 1.7 billion from the state-owned
Chinese Exim bank over the years to undertake various infrastructure
projects. This is believed to be more than 43% of Kyrgyzstan's total external
debt. Due to this huge external debt, researchers at the Centre for global
Development, a US think tank, say that Kyrgyzstan is "financially vulnerable"
to China.