Notes on Tajikistan

The author describes a two-week summer trip to Tajikistan, mostly in Dushanbe and along the Pamir Highway, and argues that China's financing explains the gap between the capital's rapid development and rural poverty. The author cites a local expert's description of Tajikistan as a "Chinese colony," and reports that China held $2 billion of Tajikistani debt by 2022, more than half the total. The essay also notes Tajikistan's per capita GDP of $1,050 to $1,200, gold production rising from 2,400 kg annually to almost 12,000 kg in 2022, and a 2011 territorial cession of 386 square miles to China.