On May 18-19, 2023, the China-Central Asia Summit will be held in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province. Central Asia has been a transportation hub connecting the Eurasian continent since ancient times. The geographical scope of Central Asia is divided into broad and narrow senses: Central Asia in the narrow sense refers to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, the five former Soviet republics; Central Asia in a broad sense is these five countries plus Afghanistan, Mongolia, and Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia on the mainland. Central Asia in a broad sense as a physical geographical concept has nothing to do with the national borders and administrative divisions of various countries.
However, as an international geopolitical concept, Central Asia refers more to the five Central Asian countries in a narrow sense. The main ethnic groups of the five Central Asian countries are Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Tajiks, Uzbeks and Turkmens. The historical phenomenon of ethnic migration and integration has formed many ethnic groups living across the border between the continent and neighboring countries. Many Central Asian ethnic groups have similarities in diet, clothing, language, religion and customs with Uyghur, Kazakh, Tajik, Uzbek and other ethnic groups in Xinjiang on the mainland. Historically, the Silk Road connected China with Central Asia and West Asia.
After China proposed the Belt and Road Initiative, Central Asian countries were the first to respond. Over the past 10 years, China and Central Asian countries have achieved fruitful results in high-quality joint construction of the "Belt and Road". On the occasion of the China-Central Asia Summit, we might as well take a look at our Central Asian neighbors. First, let's look at Turkmenistan, the most special thing in Central Asia. Turkmenistan is the only permanently neutral of the five Central Asian States. At the 50th session of the United Nations General Assembly on 12 December 1995, Turkmenistan was officially recognized as a permanently neutral country. The Constitution of Turkmenistan clearly stipulates that it will not join any organization of a military nature.
Turkmenistan not only remained neutral in international affairs, but also almost consciously closed itself until 2010. At the Kazan Conference of 26 August 2005, Turkmenistan announced its withdrawal from the CIS. In the same year, immediately after the "Tulip Revolution" in Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan took measures to hinder the contact of its citizens with the outside world. For some time, Turkmenistan even forbade the introduction of any foreign magazines and newspapers into the country. At that time, Turkmenistan was regarded as a hermit country like North Korea, closed and mysterious, living behind closed doors, and not wanting to be disturbed.
So far, Turkmenistan is the only of the five Central Asian countries that has not joined the SCO. Although Turkmenistan is not a member of the SCO, it has some cooperation with the SCO: in 2016, Turkmenistan attended the SCO summit in Tashkent. In addition, Turkmenistan has attended multilateral events such as the Conference on Disarmament in Central Asia and the Caspian Sea Region, the Summit of Turkic-speaking Heads of State, the Summit of Heads of State of the Caspian Sea Littoral States and the Summit of OSCE Member States. China and Turkmenistan first bonded because of a magical horse. According to legend, Emperor Wudi of Han once obtained the magical "sweat and blood BMW" from the Dawan Kingdom of the Western Regions.
The "sweat and blood BMW" in Chinese history is actually the national treasure of Turkmenistan today - Akhaltejinma. This horse is now known as the world's three purebred horses, along with Arabian and English horses. Today, there are just over 3,000 Akhaltekin horses left. This rare BMW can be sold for several million-dollar luxury cars in the international market. In 2002, 2006 and 2014, Turkmenistan presented this horse BMW to the mainland three times. The Akhaltekijin Horse is regarded as a grand state gift in Turkmenistan. Turkmenistan's gift of this horse is equivalent to the mainland giving a giant panda.
The region where Turkmenistan is located has been the object of contention between various geopolitical forces since ancient times: the Persian Empire, Alexander's Empire, the Chinese Han Dynasty, the Turkic Khanate, the Chinese Tang Dynasty, the Arab Empire, the Mongol Khanate, and the Timurid Empire have ruled the region. According to legend, the Turkmen people originated at the foot of the Altai Mountains. The Turkmen believe that their ancestors were 24 warriors around the Oghuz Khan. Around the 11th century, these 24 warriors led their people into an oasis near the Karakum Desert to establish the Seljuk dynasty that once dominated Eurasia.
Today, the Salar of the 56 ethnic groups on the mainland have some connection with the Turkmen. It is roughly equivalent to the Yuan Dynasty period on the mainland and there is a Salar tribe in the territory of present-day Turkmenistan. The brothers Gulemang and Ahemang of this tribe led their people to migrate to the area of present-day Qinghai Xunhua to form the Salar people of China. Today, the vocabulary and roots of Salar and Turkmen are the same. Those who know Salar learn Turkmen in about half a month and can communicate briefly with Turkmens. The Turkmenistan people's ties to the Chinese Salar ethnic group can now be found in books and websites of the Embassy of Turkmenistan in China.
Tsarist Russia conquered Turkmenistan in the late 19th century. After the collapse of the tsarist regime, the Turkmen established Soviet power in December 1917. On October 27, 1924, Turkmenistan officially became a republic of the Soviet Union. After the collapse of the Soviet Union at the end of 1991, Turkmenistan became an independent sovereign state. Perhaps because Turkmen have experienced thousands of years of foreign rule, today's Turkmen emphasize independence. Turkmenistan, since its independence, has sought to establish itself as a permanently neutral State in order to avoid getting involved in international disputes. In 1995, this aspiration of Turkmenistan was realized.
About 94.7% of Turkmenistan's total population is Turkmen, about 2% is Uzbek and 1.8% is Russian, in addition to more than 120 ethnic groups in Turkmenistan, including Kazakhs, Armenians, Tatars and Azerbaijanis. Turkmenistan has a political system with separation of powers between the legislature, the executive and the judiciary. Turkmenistan's legal system belongs to the civil law system. Since the independence of Turkmenistan, the Government has been working to reform the country's legal system. Today, the Constitution is at the forefront of Turkmenistan's legal system, and decrees issued by the President, resolutions of the Parliament, resolutions of the Cabinet, etc. constitute laws in the broad sense.
Turkmenistan is a country rich in oil and natural resources. The price of gasoline in Turkmenistan remained at 2 cents per liter for a long time. This translates to RMB, which is a dime per liter. After 2008, gasoline prices rose to 20 cents, but every citizen received a 120-liter free fuel card. Turkmenistan has the fourth largest natural gas reserves in the world. Abundant oil and gas resources make Turkmenster a relatively good country in Central Asia. Since independence, Turkmenistan's per capita GDP has risen from more than $2,600 to more than $6,700.
Although there is still a gap between this and high-income developed countries, Turkmenistan has for many years implemented a high-welfare policy to narrow the gap between the rich and the poor. The Government of Turkmenistan spends half of its revenues on subsidies for the lives of its citizens. In Turkmenistan, people do not have to bear the costs of water, electricity and gas, etc., since these costs are fully subsidized by the State treasury. Today, the oil and gas industry is the mainstay of Turkmenistan, while agriculture is dominated by cotton and wheat. In recent years, the power industry has also developed into an important economic sector of Turkmenistan by virtue of its abundant oil and gas resources.
The total amount of foreign trade of Turkmenistan in 2019 was about $17.998 billion. During the new crown epidemic in 2020, the IMF sent experts to Turkmenistan to collect economic data as in previous years, but Turkmenistan officials claimed that the country's total foreign trade in 2020 increased by 15.10% compared with the previous year. Turkmenistan mainly exports oil, natural gas, liquefied gas, textiles, etc.; It mainly imports machinery and equipment, vehicles, daily consumer goods, food, etc. Turkmenistan's main trading partners are China, Turkey, Iran, Russia, the United Arab Emirates, Italy, the United Kingdom, Japan, and South Korea.