Sino-Central Asian trade is for the most part in the hands either of large state-run
enterprises, or of the Hans from Xinjiang—particularly the Xinjiang Production
and Construction Corps—or lastly of private entrepreneurs from Zhejiang. The
Uyghurs, Dungans, and China’s Central Asians minorities have therefore a
limited room for trade and their competitiveness remains modest. However, these
cross-border minorities play, have played, or might be called upon to play, a role in
the development of Sino-Central Asian economic relations and in the cultural
mediations between the two worlds. Even if this niche remains modest compared
to the overall Sino-Central-Asian relations, it constitutes a key element in the
social strategies of trans-nationalization being put into place by these minorities.