With NATO's offensive infrastructure advancing towards the borders of the Russian Federation and its allies, the assessment and analysis of military-technical cooperation between the countries of Central Asia (three of which – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are members of the CSTO) is important both for preventing threats to Russia's national security and the collective security of the region. This article analyzes the militarytechnical cooperation of the countries of Central Asia (CA) with the China, Russian Federation’s strategic partner, during the period from 1991 to present time. In addition to determining the general state of the military-industrial complexes of the countries of the region and their needs, the paper identifies key trends in the military-technical cooperation between China and the Central Asian states with a detailed listing of the supply of Chinese military equipment and the features of its use. The study relies both on international databases on transactions with arms and military equipment (AME) and on sources in the countries of the region, which allows to draw qualitatively new conclusions about the state of the militarytechnical cooperation of China and the countries of the region. The results of the work allow us to generalize the stages passed and the prospects for military-technical cooperation between China and the Central Asian states, as well as draw conclusions for assessing this situation from the point of view of the interests of the Russian Federation.
military-technical cooperation; China and Central Asia; security cooperation; military cooperation between China and Central Asian countries.