Kyrgyzstan’s President Sadyr Japarov has claimed that debates and comments triggered by a mass brawl between Kyrgyz and Chinese construction workers amount to a pre-election provocation.

The November 15 clash in northern Kyrgyzstan has exposed growing anti-Chinese sentiment in the Central Asian country, according to a report from RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz Service.

It occurred two weeks before the scheduled November 30 Kyrgyz parliamentary elections and four days before the November 19 arrival of Beijing’s top diplomat Wang Yi on an official visit.

Police detained 16 people and took in 44, including Chinese workers, for questioning after dozens of Kyrgyz and Chinese workers clashed in the village of Konstantinovka in the northern province of Chui after a traffic dispute. One Kyrgyz worker was hospitalised with head injuries.

Speaking to official state news agency Kabar, Japarov said: “Anything can happen in life. In Bishkek, two Kyrgyz can quarrel and fight on the street — we see this on social media. But such everyday conflicts should not be elevated to the level of interstate problems.

“There are groups that try to stir things up before the elections. We know who they are. For now, we are just watching. If they cross the line, they will be arrested. And then they’ll start shouting that they were ‘detained for no reason.’ They have no other topics — only electricity and the Chinese.”

RFE/RL reported that the authorities – who are also currently trying to quell frustrations over electricity shortages in the country – had attempted to downplay the incident, which involved drivers of the China Road & Bridge Corporation and the Kyrgyz company Zhongzi. It said “the brawl has highlighted anger in Kyrgyzstan over Chinese-funded projects and the influx of Chinese workers to the impoverished country”.

Several big Chinese-funded infrastructure projects are taking place in Kyrgyzstan including the building of the first sections of the planned China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan (CKU) railway, a multibillion-dollar megaproject that aims to cut freight delivery times between China and Europe by up to one week.

A frequent grievance aired in Central Asia is that for Chinese-invested projects in the region, the involved Chinese companies typically hire Chinese workers, rather than turning to locals.

"There's a widespread perception that on large construction projects, from engineering and technical staff down to labourers, they bring their own people from China," economic analyst Nurgul Akimova told Azattyk.

Foreign Minister Jeenbek Kulubayev brushed aside claims that Chinese workers were pouring into the country taking jobs that could be done by Kyrgyz workers.

"Chinese citizens are working on the basis of work visas. We have a visa regime. When their visa expires, they leave," Kulubayev told Kabar.

Another complaint often voiced against China in Central Asia is that Beijing is guilty of inhumane treatment of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities – including ethnic Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Tajiks and Uzbeks – in its far western province of Xinjiang. China denies it is the case, but human rights campaigners claim more than a million people may have been “disappeared” into a vast network of Xinjiang mass detention camps.

Japarov, on November 19, also spoke about a $55mn mosque being built by a controversial Chinese businessman, Habibulla Abdukadyr.

The mosque is being built as part of the Bishkek City project. Japarov told Kabar that Habibullah will operate a project hotel for business purposes, while the mosque would be a gift to the Kyrgyz people.

"We should not divide investors into 'this' and 'that', but rather create conditions for them to do business," he was quoted as saying.