According to the NGO Transparency International Global Corruption Perceptions Index 2020 report, Kyrgyzstan ranks 124th out of 180 countries in the world, and among the five Central Asian countries, although much better than before, it still ranks third in corruption, second only to Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan. The corruption index is as low as 1.8, which is calculated from 0-10, and the higher the index, the cheaper it is. Analysing the causes of corruption in Kyrgyzstan, the determining factor is the result of its unique geographical location.
So, how unique are kyrgyzstan's geographical factors?
First, the unique geographical location has become a strategic location seized by international forces
Kyrgyzstan is located in the core of Eurasia, is the connection between Eurasia and the Middle East region of the key pass, it borders China in the southeast, Tajikistan in the south, Kazakhstan in the north, Uzbekistan in the west, as an authentic landlocked country, is a variety of international forces out of the east into the west, go south and north must pass through.
Because of its unique geographical location, it has become the focus of competition between various international forces since its independence from the former Soviet Union in 1991. Pro-American, pro-Russian and other politicians, you sing and I appear on the stage, and take turns to sit in the village and share the fruit.
In this century, as the process of world internationalization accelerates, the political situation in Kyrgyzstan is even more in turmoil. In 2005, pro-American forces came to power and ousted the former president, and the United States took the opportunity to establish its own military base in Kyrgyzstan. In 2010, after the pro-Russian regime came to power, the former president ran away with the US military base. Just in 2019, in order to arrest the corrupt former president, the new government actually used more than 6,000 military police, plus various heavy weapons, to make the former president with his own arms lay down his weapons and tie his hands. From independence in 1991 to the present, Kyrgyzstan has changed dozens of prime ministers successively, and the appointment and dismissal of members of the core government team is even more like a child's play, saying that they will be changed, which has led to the public officials of government agencies doing a day and a monk to hit the clock for a day, there is a general fluke mentality, they can be greedy, and the key functional departments of the state have openly carried out power rent-seeking, resulting in the phenomenon of prevarication and layers of exploitation, and the investment environment is extremely bad.
The more greedy the poorer, the poorer the greedier, and so on, kyrgyzstan has become a poor and corrupt country.
Second, rich geographical resources and harsh terrain and landforms
Among the five Central Asian countries, Kyrgyzstan's topography seems to be no worst but worse on the surface. Kyrgyzstan is almost a country that grows in mountain ranges, the entire land area is crisscrossed by large and small mountain ranges into several small pieces, the direction of the mountain range in the form of self-release, the distribution is disorderly, which leads to more than 90% of the territory of Kyrgyzstan at an altitude of more than 1500 meters above the mountain slopes, the lowest valley altitude is also above 500 meters, the highest is more than 4000 meters, and the Tomur Peak on the border with China is more than 7400 meters above sea level, and it is snowy all year round. The area of river valleys and flat lands that can be farmed accounts for only about 10%, mainly concentrated in the Issyk-Kul Basin, Chu River Valley and Taras River Valley.
Looking down on Kyrgyzstan from above, it is not difficult to see that there is a large basin in its southwestern direction, but unfortunately, this basin, called Fergana, looks quite powerful, and most of it belongs to neighboring Uzbekistan. This most fertile basin in Central Asia has left only some scrap material for Kyrgyzstan.
Coupled with the extremely irregular border line between the three countries of Giuta, the sovereignty of each other over the land can only be more accurately expressed in terms of you and me, me, you, because there is always a sudden appearance between the territories of one country, surrounded by cuts. As a result, the remaining scraps of the Fergana Basin had to be partly divided by Tajikistan, kyrgyzstan actually held some land in the eastern part of the Fergana Basin, and Tajikistan actually controlled some of the land in the western part, because at the time of the division, there were differences between the two countries on the border line, and the two countries often had gunfire incidents because of the looting of these scraps, which undoubtedly burdened kyrgyzstan's finances, which were already stretched.
In such a country that grows on the mountains, the available land has been extremely limited, and what has caused the successive governments of Kyrgyzstan is that there are as many as 80 ethnic groups in the land area of only 200,000 square kilometers and a population of less than 7 million, while there are only 56 ethnic groups in China's 9.6 million square kilometers. Although more than 70 per cent of these 80 ethnic groups are Kyrgyz and the majority are Muslims, at least as many as four sects coexist. Because of the unique topographic and geomorphological factors, most of the people of Kyrgyzstan are nomadic people, chasing grass and chasing water, the concept of tribal factions is very strong, and all kinds of nepotism grow barbarically in such a geographical environment, if there is no strong government, the contradictions and conflicts between ethnic groups can only be resolved by showing each other's muscles.
But the reality is that Kyrgyzstan has very good natural geographical resources. Located in Kyrgyzstan, Lake Issyk-Kul is the second largest alpine lake in the world, the fourth deep-water lake, the first lake in terms of capacity, and its water storage capacity exceeds 1.7 trillion cubic meters, because the lake has a high salt content, so even if it is located at a high altitude, the surrounding land is all condensed into glaciers, Andyk-Kul is still sparkling and the water flows endlessly. In addition, Kyrgyzstan is full of mountains, a number of large cross-border rivers originate in the territory, accounting for 4% of the national land area of glacial meltwater, so that the rivers and lakes that do not spend silver are all over the territory of Kyrgyzstan, so it has won the reputation of "Central Asian Water Tower" and provided rich natural resources for the construction of modern hydropower stations.
Kyrgyzstan also has all trace elements in the periodic table of chemical elements, and the proven reserves of various mineral deposits are exceptionally rich, and the Kumtor gold mine in Issyk-Kumtor in Lake Issyk-Kul region contributes half of Kyrgyzstan's fiscal revenue.
Such abundant natural resources, because there is no strong state apparatus to maintain control, but the tribal factions are more and more strengthened, providing a humanistic soil for corruption.
Third, the uneven distribution of geographical resources has led to the differentiation of the north and the south, exacerbating the breeding of corruption
On the map, the entire Tian Shan Mountains stretch through Kyrgyzstan and stretch for more than 2,500 kilometers, dividing Kyrgyzstan into two natural parts, north and south. The capital, Bishkek, is located in the Chu River valley on the border of Jiha in the northern region.
Because of its geographical location, excellent geographical environment, beautiful water and grass fertilizer, agriculture and animal husbandry are very developed. Because it is the location of the capital, the former Soviet Union has invested a lot of financial and material resources in the region, coupled with the dense local population, more than 1 million people, accounting for more than one-sixth of the national population, all kinds of talents gathered, so the economic development is rapid, driven by the capital Bishkek, the northern economy is developing rapidly.
At this time, the southern region was still dominated by traditional agriculture and animal husbandry, the degree of industrialization was slowly developed, and the gap between the north and the south was getting wider and wider, resulting in the economic and cultural rift between the north and the south. Northerners believe that southerners are too backward and conservative in their thinking, while southerners believe that northerners are too influenced by the former Soviet Union, abandoning the ancestral cultural and religious inheritance, excessive secularization, and beginning to move closer to Western cultures such as the United States. Over time, the north and the south have formed two natural hostile camps, the south is pro-US, the north is close to Russia, and the president who supports both sides of the government will often implement a series of political, economic, and cultural policies that are often changed because of different diplomatic tendencies, and it is difficult to continue, which has aggravated the antagonism between the two sides, and while increasing the factors of instability, it also provides a hotbed for corruption to breed.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Kyrgyzstan, which had just become an independent country, copied the Western presidential system in its entirety, and without the legal support of a strong state apparatus and regulation, it led to the loss of power, from the president to government officials at all levels, frantically grabbing social wealth to enrich themselves, resulting in large-scale corruption.
In the 15 years of his administration, Kyrgyz President Akayev, who was ousted from power in 2005, became the chief helmsman of the domestic organization of selling officials and lords, and under the leadership of the first lady, Kyrgyzstan's annual income from official sales accounted for more than one-fifth of the country's total GDP. Almost all Kyrgyz government employees have nepotism, leading enterprises and state monopolies with good efficiency are all controlled by their cronies, and supermarkets and gas stations related to people's livelihood are also controlled by various crony cronies, resulting in the Akayev family having a cumulative wealth of more than 100 million US dollars during its administration, making Kyrgyzstan's financial budget of less than 400 million US dollars inferior.
In this environment, the GDP in 2021 is less than 7.5 billion US dollars, just more than 1000 US dollars per capita, according to the data provided by the World Economic Forum's "2019 Global Competitiveness Report", Kyrgyzstan ranked at the bottom with 96, becoming the lowest of the five Central Asian countries in terms of total economic volume, the smallest economy, and completely reduced to one of the poorest countries in the world.
"Money can make ghosts grind" is enshrined in Kyrgyzstan, and the tear between rich and poor is becoming more and more serious, according to the official poverty line of 20 US dollars and the minimum living standard of 90 US dollars, one-third of the civilian population in Kyrgyzstan is struggling below the subsistence line.
The harsh cultural environment has led to a large number of people losing, more talents have fled their hometowns, and in the 1990s alone, about 600,000 people fled their homeland through various channels, and Kyrgyzstan has also won a sad title of "Central Asian refugee".
Fourth, conclusion
Kyrgyzstan's unique geographical conditions have attracted more and more attention from the international community, and Turkey and Saudi Arabia in Central Asia have taken advantage of their muslim counterparts to start building mosques in Kyrgyzstan for a self-evident purpose.
China and Kyrgyzstan have deep historical ties and geopolitical ties.
Kyrgyzstan's largest ethnic group, the Kyrgyz ethnic group, is known in China as the Kyrgyz ethnic group, and most of them live in the Kyzyl-Sukel kyrgiz Autonomous Prefecture in Xinjiang, China, and share the same language and culture.
As the core country of China's Belt and Road Initiative, Kyrgyzstan has historically been under the jurisdiction of the Anxi Protectorate, and the broken leaves of one of the important towns in Anxi are the birthplace of the Tang Dynasty poet Li Bai. In honor of Li Bai, Kyrgyzstan also named Tokmok Road LiBai Road and prepared to build a Libai Tourism and Cultural City, and the Chinese government also began to invest in road construction and hydropower stations in the local area. Hopefully, Kyrgyzstan will henceforth shed its hat of corruption and become a country where its people live and work in peace and contentment.