Closer ties are expected to hit a new high this week at the inaugural China-Central Asia.”
According to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, the summit, which will be hosted by Chinese President Xi Jinping, will bring together heads of state from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
Experts say the upcoming heads of state meeting highlights that China and Central Asian countries have broad common interests and deepening regional cooperation amid rising global instability.
Level diplomacy
“Diplomacy at the level of heads of state is the biggest political benefit of comprehensive cooperation between China and Central Asian countries,” said Sun Zhuangzhi, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Such a summit can enhance mutual strategic trust, create cooperation mechanisms and eliminate political obstacles by resolving disputes. At the same time, through Heads of State diplomacy, countries are more likely to uphold each other’s core interests and jointly resolve core issues, as well as coordinate their actions in international affairs, which can help improve global governance, writes Sun Zhuangzhi in a recent article published in Contemporary World magazine.
In January last year, Chinese leader Xi Jinping held a virtual summit dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Central Asian countries. A month later, the leaders of the five Central Asian states attended the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Beijing. And a little later, at the third meeting of foreign ministers of China and the countries of Central Asia in June, it was decided to raise the level of meetings to the level of heads of state.
After that, Xi Jinping visited Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan and attended the SCO summit in Samarkand in September 2022, his first major overseas visit since the COVID-19 outbreak.
According to experts, this intense diplomatic activity has demonstrated the great importance that China attaches to Central Asian countries.
Deng Hao, a researcher at the China Institute of International Studies (CIIS), noted that good relations between China and Central Asian countries help improve the strategic security environment in western parts of China and to promote stability and development in the countries of Central Asia, which is a win-win strategy for all participants.
Impressive results of cooperation
Deng Hao wrote in the journal China International Studies that China has made great diplomatic progress in Central Asia, in particular by establishing three major cooperation mechanisms: the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), the Belt and Road Initiative (BIS) and meetings of foreign countries. Chinese and Central Asian countries’ affairs ministers.
Trade volume between China and Central Asian countries hit 70.2 billion U.S. dollars
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p class=””>The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), born more than two decades ago with the mission to fight terrorism, separatism and extremism, is designed to provide a secure and stable environment for the development of member countries. of the SCO. According to Deng Hao, in recent years, the SCO has witnessed increasing security cooperation in regional and international arenas and opened up huge opportunities for the development of the region and the whole world.
And the One Belt, One Road initiative launched by Xi Jinping in 2013, emphasizing interconnectivity, aims to make Central Asia a conduit connecting China and Europe, which could further strengthen ties. economic relations between Asia and Europe. Ten years later, under the Belt and Road Initiative, China has signed cooperation documents with all Central Asian countries and achieved impressive results in infrastructure construction, economic and trade cooperation, the development of financial mechanisms and other areas.
Official data shows that trade between China and Central Asian countries reached $70.2 billion in 2022, more than 100 times more than when the countries first established diplomatic ties.
“The Belt and Road Initiative has brought China and the five Central Asian countries even closer. The upcoming China-Central Asia Summit will enhance the aspirations of the six participating countries to continue their friendship and deepen their cooperation, jointly building a China-Central Asia community with a common future,” said Yu Xiaoshuang, assistant researcher at the China Institute of International Studies (CIIS).
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