An Interior Ministry spokesman said the car exploded inside the compound and quoted Deputy Prime Minister Janysh Razakov as describing the blast as a terrorist act.
Police cordoned off the building and the adjacent area, and the GKNB state security service said they were investigating the bombing that occurred around 1000 local time (0400 GMT).
China condemned the assault and urged the Kyrgyz authorities to quickly investigate and determine the real situation behind the incident.
China's state news agency Xinhua said five people were wounded: two security guards and three Kyrgyz nationals working at the embassy.
Authorities in Kyrgyzstan, a mostly Muslim former Soviet republic of 6 million people, routinely detain suspected Islamist militants they accuse of being linked to Islamic State, which actively recruits from Central Asia.
