China's Foreign Ministry called on Kyrgyzstan to take urgent measures to ensure the safety of Chinese nationals and institutions following a deadly blast at Beijing's embassy in Bishkek, capital of the Central Asian naiton. China says it will assist Kyrgyzstan in the investigation into the Aug. 30 suicide car-bomb blast that killed the driver and injured three embassy employees. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, but suspicion has fallen on the Turkestan Islamic Party [7], a Uigur separatist organization formerly known as the East Turkestan Islamic Movement [8]. China has growing economic interests in Kyrgyzstan under the "Silk Road [9]" initiative, land route of the "One Belt, One Road" trade and infrastructure scheme which also includes a maritime leg through the Indian Ocean. (SCMP [10], Sept. 1; RFE/RL [11], Aug. 31; Nikkei Asian Review [12], The Standard [13], Hong Kong, Aug. 30)
