Kazakhstan has no Plans to cede Land to China - Masimov

    Kazakhstan’s Prime Minister Karim Masimov said on Friday the government has no plans to cede Kazakh land to China but predicted that local media will continue to raise the topic, the Novosti-Kazakhstan news agency reported on July 15.
    “There is no secret program to transfer of Kazakh lands to China’s companies,” Masimov told an online conference at Internet news portal Zakon.kz. “Under Kazakhstan’s laws only Kazakh citizens may own land. This is our principal stand and it won’t change.”
    Kazakh law permits foreigners to lease land for agricultural use for a maximum period of 10 years but forbids them from owning land.
    In recent months, opposition parties and social activists warned against Chinese expansion into Kazakhstan, as China’s profile grows as one of the country’s largest foreign investors.
    Last week, several local media outlets reportedly speculated that the Kazakh government signed a long-term land lease deal with China for 1 million hectares of farmland, SRI wrote.