# US and China compete for influence in Central Asia — retained record

> Retained news record from news:semafor.

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source: [news](https://highsignal.app/data/news) (news:semafor)  published 2026-10-19 10:45 ingested 2026-10-20 02:51

[original source ↗](https://www.semafor.com/article/10/19/2026/us-and-china-compete-for-influence-in-central-asia)

## retained text



```
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio sought to strike deals across resource-rich Central Asia and reverse Chinese inroads in a region long dominated by Russia. Uzbekistan holds vast deposits of rare earths and critical minerals, while neighboring Kazakhstan is the world’s leading producer of uranium, accounting for 40% of supplies.
Rubio promised on his visit to the region that the US was offering long-term deals in a part of the world Washington has historically undervalued. But so too is China, which is also expanding its cultural footprint in the region: Ever more Central Asians are learning Chinese, with many convinced it’s “the language of the future,” the Jamestown Foundation wrote.
```



document fetched 2026-10-23 22:19 · canonical https://semafor.com/article/10/19/2026/us-and-china-compete-for-influence-in-central-asia