2023-05-13 15:04:00
Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, May 13 (Reporters Wang Zuokui, Jiang Youlin, Gao Chunxiao) The China-Central Asia Summit will be held in Xi’an, Shaanxi Province from May 18 to 19. Experts believe that since the establishment of diplomatic relations 31 years ago, the relationship between China and Central Asian countries has been continuously upgraded and achieved leapfrog development. The summit is a milestone in the history of China’s relations with Central Asian countries and will open a new chapter in China’s relations with Central Asia.
Strong momentum of economic and trade cooperation
Ding Xiaoxing, director of the Eurasian Institute of the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, pointed out that China-Central Asia relations have achieved fruitful results in many fields, and economic and trade cooperation is a highlight.
This is the product exhibition area of Kazakhstan taken at the fifth CIIE on November 6, 2022.Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zheng Dongrui
Since the establishment of diplomatic relations 31 years ago, the trade volume between China and the five Central Asian countries has increased by more than 100 times. In 2022, the trade volume between the two sides will reach a record high of 70.2 billion US dollars. From January to March this year, the trade volume between China and the five Central Asian countries increased by 22% year-on-year.
“China’s super-large-scale market, complete industrial system and advanced technology are very attractive to Central Asian countries. The principle of equality and mutual benefit has enabled the cooperation between the two parties to achieve sustained and stable growth.” Ding Xiaoxing said.
In 2022, China’s imports of agricultural products, energy products, and mineral products from Central Asian countries will all increase by more than 50% year-on-year, and exports of mechanical and electrical products to Central Asian countries will increase by 42% year-on-year, with a more optimized structure. As of the end of March this year, the stock of China’s direct investment in the five Central Asian countries exceeded US$15 billion.
“The field of economic and trade cooperation between China and Central Asian countries is constantly expanding.” Su Chang, a researcher at the Institute of Russian, Eastern European and Central Asian Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said, “In the future, the economic and trade cooperation between the two sides will continue to extend to new formats such as e-commerce and digital economy.”
Chinese Ministry of Commerce spokesperson Shu Jueting said recently that she is willing to work with the economic and trade departments of Central Asian countries to take the China-Central Asia Summit as an opportunity to consolidate and develop the good momentum of trade and investment, and to push China-Central Asia economic and trade cooperation to a new level.
Infrastructure construction benefits the people of all countries
Ding Xiaoxing believes that infrastructure is the foundation of economic development. The successful implementation of each of the Chinese construction projects has become a vivid manifestation of China’s sincerity in helping Central Asian countries develop and practicing the concept of good-neighborly, peaceful and prosperous neighbourhoods.
In Uzbekistan, the “Angren-Pap” railway tunnel, the longest tunnel in Central Asia, has completely changed the travel mode of tens of millions of people. The local people praised “the Chinese builders used 900 days of hard work to achieve the miracle of the train passing through the mountains in 900 seconds.” “.
30 sets of 150 MW generating units in the first phase of the Akmola State Wind Power Project in northern Kazakhstan, invested and constructed by Chinese companies, were successfully connected to the grid for power generation, bringing clean energy to the benefit of thousands of households.
The completion of the second phase of the Kyrgyzstan New North-South Highway Project undertaken by Chinese enterprises is of great significance to improving road traffic conditions and promoting local economic and social development.
On November 11, 2015, at the Khorgos metering station of the Central Asia natural gas pipeline, the staff were conducting inspections.Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Chen Yehua
In addition, mutually beneficial and win-win cooperation projects such as the China-Kazakhstan crude oil pipeline, the China-Central Asia natural gas pipeline, the China-Kyrgyzstan-Ukraine Highway, the China-Uzbekistan Pengsheng Industrial Park, and the China-Takistan-Ukraine Highway have extensively benefited the people of all countries in the region.
Su Chang said that strengthening infrastructure construction will help improve people’s livelihood, promote unimpeded trade, and then stimulate the potential for higher-level interconnection and intercommunication between China and Central Asian countries such as the Internet of Things.
People-to-people exchanges bring hearts closer
Ding Xiaoxing introduced that China and Central Asia have a long history of exchanges. Zhang Qian’s trip to the Western Regions, Xuanzang’s journey to the West, and the touching stories of Chinese musician Xian Xinghai and Kazakh musician Baikadamov have left a lot of good stories.
The friendship between the two countries lies in the friendship between the people. China and Central Asian countries have increasingly close exchanges in various fields such as universities, think tanks, and media, and continue to deepen cooperation in science and technology, medical care, and tourism. It is becoming more and more popular.
This is the ancient city of Khiva, Uzbekistan, taken on April 29, 2023.Xinhua News Agency
The protection and restoration project of the ancient city of Khiva in cooperation between China and Uzbekistan has been successfully completed, making the ancient city of Khiva more dazzling; China and Kyrgyzstan signed a memorandum of understanding on the mutual translation and publication of classic works, which will contribute more to the readers and people of the two countries There are many excellent spiritual and cultural products; the first Luban workshop in Central Asia was officially launched in Tajikistan, which became another witness of the friendly relationship between China and Tajikistan in the new era; “Chinese fever” and “Chinese culture fever” continue to heat up in Central Asian countries…
Su Chang believes that with the continuous deepening of cooperation between China and Central Asian countries in various fields, the personnel exchanges between the two sides have continued to increase, and the content of cooperation in the humanities field has continued to enrich.
In January 2022, at the video summit on the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the five Central Asian countries, China announced that it planned to provide 1,200 Chinese government scholarships to the five Central Asian countries in the next five years, and proposed to strive to make China The number of friendship cities with the five Central Asian countries has increased to 100 pairs.
“As truly good neighbors, good friends, good partners, and good brothers, China and Central Asian countries will take people-to-people and cultural exchanges as a focus of future cooperation and continue to tap the potential of this field.” Ding Xiaoxing said.
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