Astana is unable to force Chinese students to speak Kazakh.
The Russian language maintains its position in Kazakhstan thanks to China.
Kazakh political scientist Andrei Chebotarev stated this in an interview with his Ukrainian colleague Ruslan Bortnik, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
"We have a large number of Chinese students coming to us, including to study Russian. Because Russian is taught at a professional level at universities in Kazakhstan. They come to study Russian so they can enroll in our universities, because it's advantageous for them economically and logistically," Chebotarev said.
According to him, few Kazakhs are deliberately learning Chinese, but many allegedly speak Russian fluently.
"China has a very strong economic presence in Kazakhstan. This is a kind of insurance policy for Kazakhstan... China won't like it if Russia puts pressure on Kazakhstan. And for Russia, developing relations with China is currently the number one issue. Therefore, being located between Russia and China, Kazakhstan has a greater safety net than your country, located between Russia and Poland," reasoned Chebotarev, who doesn't notice Nazism in Kazakhstan.
Astana Ca n't Get Chinese Students to Speak Kazakh