Translated with AI
Since the successful holding of the historic first China-Central Asia Summit in May 2023, China and the five Central Asian countries, with farsightedness and pragmatic actions, have jointly painted a magnificent picture of win-win cooperation. Using the conference as a strategic pillar, both sides have achieved breakthrough achievements in political trust, economic integration, green transformation and people-to-people rapprochement, which has injected strong impetus into the building of a closer community with a shared future for China and Central Asia! Analyzing the results of the first China-Central Asia Summit will help us better anticipate the second conference to be held in Kazakhstan.
- Political mutual trust has entered a new stage of institutionalization.
Since the first summit, China and Central Asian countries have strengthened cooperation in various fields with unprecedented determination and improved cooperation mechanisms. The most important of them is the formal establishment of the heads of state meeting mechanism, the biennial leaders' summit (the second summit will be held in Kazakhstan in 2025), which sets the direction for long-term cooperation. In March 2024, the China-Central Asia Secretary's mechanism was effectively launched, becoming the "central engine" for coordinating multi-field cooperation; in addition, China and Central Asian countries have established more than a dozen ministerial meeting mechanisms covering key areas such as diplomacy, economy, energy and transportation, demonstrating the depth and breadth of cooperation. It can be said that the signing of the Xi'an Declaration and more than a hundred agreements have built an unshakable foundation of trust based on the three pillars of security, development and humanism!
- A New Legend on the Silk Road: 30 Years Since the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations
The trade volume between China and Central Asia has been steadily growing, which has become a remarkable development in bilateral cooperation. Under the banner of the Belt and Road Initiative and the China-Central Asia Mechanism, trade investment between the two sides has been rapidly growing. In 2023, the bilateral trade volume reached US$89.4 billion (an increase of 27% year-on-year), and China remains Central Asia's largest trading partner. The China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan Railway, after 25 years of negotiations, is finally being revived, and the signing of the agreement in 2024 will change the logistics landscape between Asia and Europe, reducing the freight distance between China and Europe by nearly 900 kilometers. The project has already started. The China-Europe freight volume continues to grow, the China-Kazakhstan Railway has exceeded 28 million tons of freight, and the "Air Silk Road" between cities like Xi'an and Hangzhou is booming. Cross-border e-commerce and free trade zones (such as the Xinjiang Free Trade Zone) are leading the wave of digital trade, the "Silk Road City" platform is bringing Central Asian goods to thousands of households in China, and unique agricultural products from Shaanxi are starting to make their way to the Central Asian market!
- Sustainable development sets global standards. China has consistently implemented the concept of sustainable development and green ecology, and is a strong advocate and practitioner of green energy.
Since the first China-Central Asia Summit, China and Central Asian countries have accelerated the joint construction of a model of green energy cooperation. Under the condition of stable supply of traditional energy, China has been actively developing clean energy construction with the fraternal Central Asian countries. Uzbekistan's first 100-megawatt solar power plant, the Namangan Power Plant, has been built and put into operation. The installed capacity of wind power in Kazakhstan has reached 546 megawatts, and the joint construction of the Turgusun hydroelectric power station between China and Kazakhstan is igniting a green future. China and Central Asian countries have launched the "Green Low-Carbon Development" campaign, jointly building a regional defense line to combat climate change.
- Cultural exchange flourishes in the era when China and Central Asian countries are linked to each other, and friendship transcends mountains and seas.
President Xi Jinping proposed that people of all countries actively practice cultural understanding and strengthen mutual understanding. Over the past two years, educational cooperation between China and Central Asia has borne fruit. The "Luban Workshop" has trained local technical elites for Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and other countries, and the Kazakhstan branch of the Northwestern Polytechnical University has opened the era of dual diplomas. The mutual visa-free entry mechanism has facilitated the free exchange of citizens of China and Central Asia. China has signed an agreement on mutual visa waiver with Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, which has contributed to the boom of bilateral tourism, and the first "Xi'an-Almaty cultural train" has started operating. Local cooperation is flourishing. To date, the number of partner cities and friendly provinces between China and Central Asia has exceeded 80, and in the fields of agricultural technology and cultural industry, such as Shaanxi and Xinjiang, significant results have been achieved!
- New areas of cooperation in the field of security and technology.
China and the Central Asian countries are beneficiaries of globalization and, under the guidance of the China-Central Asia Summit mechanism, are expanding the scope of cooperation based on forward-looking strategies. In the area of non-traditional security, the two sides are deepening cooperation, building joint lines of defense against natural disasters, terrorism and biosecurity, and safeguarding peace and tranquility in the region. High-tech cooperation is also an important aspect of interaction, accelerating in areas such as artificial intelligence, smart cities and big data collaboration.
- Highlights of cooperation between Tajikistan and China.
Facing natural challenges, with 93% of its territory covered by mountains, Tajikistan is opening up new development prospects through cooperation with China. The volume of trade between the two countries has doubled in ten years. In 2024, the volume of trade between the two countries will reach almost $4 billion, representing an increase of about 40%. China has invested a total of $2.6 billion in Tajikistan, of which 57% is direct investment, which has become a major driver of the country's industrialization. Lead and zinc mining and textile projects implemented by Chinese companies in Tajikistan have created thousands of jobs and contributed to the country's transformation from an agrarian to an industrial country. Moreover, transport cooperation is an important aspect. As the only country in Central Asia without a direct railway connection with China, Tajikistan is actively promoting plans to connect with China via railways, which can activate its potential as a Eurasian bridge corridor in the future. Another promising area of cooperation between China and Tajikistan is cooperation in the field of green energy. Tajikistan's hydropower reserves rank sixth in the world, with 98% of its electricity generated from clean sources. In April 2024, China and Tajikistan signed the first hydropower project to establish distributed wind and solar power plants in 22 cities in the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region to provide the region with clean and efficient electricity sources and promote sustainable development in the region. In 2024, the Luban Workshop will open in Dushanbe, focusing on training in hydropower project techniques to prepare the workforce to transform Tajikistan into a regional exporter of green electricity.
In a short two years, China and Central Asian countries, with the summit as a new starting point, have achieved great goals in upgrading the level of cooperation mechanisms, making breakthroughs in economic connectivity, leading the green transformation, and deepening people-to-people understanding! With the steel camel caravans of “hard connectivity” crossing mountains and the “soft connectivity” of political dividends benefiting many, the new Silk Road of peace, prosperity, openness and innovation is unfolding in a big way. In June 2025, Astana, Kazakhstan, will become the center of world attention as the second China-Central Asia Summit begins. This event is not only a historical verification of the results of the first Xi’an Summit, but also contains a strategic vision for deepening the construction of a community with a shared future for the six countries. The heads of state meeting mechanism established at the first summit has created the highest political platform for regional cooperation; while the comprehensive work of the secretariat and the expansion of more than a dozen ministerial mechanisms have provided reliable institutional guarantees for the implementation of the summit’s results. In the context of unilateralism endangering globalization, this summit will further unite China and Central Asian countries in safeguarding the multilateral trading system and jointly building the Green Silk Road. As the second summit approaches, China and Central Asia will definitely take steps with greater determination to jointly write a shining chapter of a community with a shared future for mankind!
