CGTN: How to usher in a new era of China-Central Asia cooperation?

2023-05-19 15:23:09

Peking (ots/PRNewswire) – China’s General Administration of Customs released data on Wednesday showing China’s import and export volume with Central Asian countries totaled 173.05 billion yuan (24.8 billion U.S. dollars) in the first four months of the year, an increase of 37.3 percent compared to the same period of the previous year.

Most notably, China’s export and import volume with the five Central Asian countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan totaled 50.27 billion yuan in April alone, breaking the 50 billion yuan mark for the first time, which is a significant represents a milestone in trading volume.

Chinese President Xi Jinping said the key to successful cooperation between China and the five Central Asian countries is mutual respect, good neighborliness and friendship, solidarity and mutual benefit.

The presidents of the five Central Asian countries are all staying in Xi’an, northwest China’s Shaanxi Province, to attend the China-Central Asia summit scheduled for Thursday and Friday. President Xi met with each of the five Central Asian leaders for bilateral talks, which included advancing bilateral ties, deepening cooperation, ensuring the region’s security and development, and building a community with a common future.

Mutual trust, solidarity

“China and the Central Asian countries, whose interests are closely intertwined, have stuck together through thick and thin and share a common future,” Xi said during his meeting with Turkmen President Serdar Berdimuhamedov on Thursday.

In the past decade, Xi has visited Central Asia seven times and also hosted several Central Asian leaders in China. Xi has held extensive exchanges with people from different sectors of the region. The friendship and mutual political trust between China and the five Central Asian countries have been continuously deepened through the diplomacy of the heads of state.

China has established comprehensive strategic partnerships with all five countries and reached consensus with them on building a community with a shared future at bilateral levels.

Xi and Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov also announced on Thursday that they would upgrade bilateral ties into a comprehensive strategic partnership for a new era.

The five Central Asian leaders spoke of the need to build a community with a common future to contribute to the development and dynamism of both sides.

Mutual respect, support

Speaking with Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev on Thursday, Xi said both sides should firmly support each other and be trustworthy and reliable friends and partners.

Faced with the turbulent and complex world situation, China and the Central Asian countries have realized the need to support each other in order to secure regional peace and promote the modernization and development of their respective countries. This is fully consistent with China’s proposed Global Development Initiative, Global Security Initiative and Global Civilization Initiative.

In their talks with Xi, the five leaders acknowledged the importance of the three initiatives and reaffirmed their willingness to coordinate with China on their implementation.

Xi reiterated that China strongly supports Central Asian countries to uphold their sovereignty and territorial integrity and independently choose development paths that suit their own national conditions. He stressed that China opposes foreign interference in the internal affairs of Central Asian countries.

The five countries also pledged to uphold the one-China principle and support China’s position on issues related to Taiwan, Xinjiang, Hong Kong and other core interests.

Mutual benefit, cooperation

Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev hailed the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) as a great initiative during his meeting with Xi on Wednesday. The five Central Asian leaders therefore all announced their intention to align their countries’ development strategies with the BRI.

Ten years ago, Xi proposed the initiative to jointly build Kazakhstan’s Silk Road Economic Belt, which grew into the BRI. Over the past decade, Central Asian countries have pioneered BRI promotion and the region has become an example of highly successful BRI development.

From fully loaded trains to humming production lines and natural gas pipelines, from the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan highway to industrial parks, intensive cooperation has facilitated industrial upgrading and improvement of living conditions in the region, with mutually beneficial results .

In 2022, Sino-Central Asia trade volume reached an all-time high of US$70.2 billion, an increase of more than 100 times since diplomatic ties were established 31 years ago.

In addition to the five bilateral talks, a number of bilateral documents on cooperation in areas such as economy, trade, energy, transport, agriculture, connectivity, culture and local affairs were also signed.

In his meeting with Tajik President Emomali Rahmon, Xi said he is confident that the China-Central Asia summit will open a new chapter for China-Central Asia cooperation thanks to the joint efforts of all parties involved.

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