BEIJING: The China-Central Asia Summit is set to take place in Xi’an, the capital city of China’s Shaanxi Province, on May 18 and 19. On the occasion, the heads of state of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan will gather in China for the first time since the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.
The event is the first summit held offline by the heads of state of the six countries since establishing diplomatic ties 31 years ago. The development of relations between China and Central Asian countries marks a significant milestone, paving the way for a new era of cooperation and creating a fresh blueprint for their partnership.
The upcoming summit was born out of the China + Central Asia (C+C5) cooperation mechanism, established in 2020 to meet a growing demand for deeper cooperation between China and Central Asia.
Three of the five Central Asian countries — Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan — share borders with China, extending as long as 3,000 km. The stability in Central Asia is crucial to maintaining the stability of China, especially in its northwest region. The friendly exchanges between the two sides trace back to ancient times. More than 2,100 years ago, Zhang Qian set off from what is now Xi’an as an envoy of the Han Dynasty. He started his mission to the western regions via Central Asia, which eventually led to the opening of the Silk Road.
After the five Central Asian states declared independence in 1991, China was among the first countries to recognize their sovereignty and establish diplomatic relations with them. Since then, China and the five Central Asian countries have successively formed strategic partnerships. Among them, China has elevated its ties with Kazakhstan to a permanent comprehensive strategic partnership and established comprehensive strategic partnerships with Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. Economic and trade cooperation between China and the five countries has achieved tangible results since establishing diplomatic ties. China’s trade with the five reached 70 billion U.S. dollars in 2022 and recorded a year-on-year expansion of 22 percent in the first quarter of this year. As of the end of March, China’s direct investment stock in Central Asia stood at over 15 billion dollars.
Central Asia is an important energy supplier to China. China once received 30 percent of its natural gas imports through the China-Central Asia pipeline. –Agencies
