China-Central Asia Summit: Opening a new chapter in China's relations with Central Asian countries

Author: Wu Xiaodan (Special Research Fellow, Xi Jinping Center for Diplomatic Thought)

On May 18-19, the China-Central Asia Summit was held in Xi'an, China, which was China's first major home diplomatic event this year and the first time in 31 years that China and the five Central Asian countries held a summit in physical form. The summit reviewed the history of friendly exchanges between China and Central Asian countries, sorted out the achievements of cooperation, summarized successful experiences and forged new consensus. The heads of state of the six countries jointly signed the Xi'an Declaration of the China-Central Asia Summit, adopted the list of outcomes of the summit, and drew up a blueprint for the future development of China-Central Asia relations, which is an important milestone in the history of the development of China's relations with Central Asian countries.

(i)

China's relations with Central Asian countries have profound historical ties, extensive practical needs and a solid foundation of public opinion, and no matter how the international situation changes, China will always be a good neighbor, good partner, good friend and good brother that Central Asian countries can trust and rely on. Since the establishment of diplomatic relations 31 years ago, China's relations with Central Asian countries have developed at a high level, and the two sides have embarked on a new path of good-neighborliness, friendship and win-win cooperation, becoming a model for building a new type of international relations. In the past 10 years, President Xi Jinping has visited Central Asia seven times and received leaders of Central Asian countries who have visited China many times. Under the joint strategic guidance of President Xi Jinping and the heads of state of the five Central Asian countries, the two sides have achieved a series of historic and breakthrough achievements in cooperation.

The "three full coverage" has far-reaching implications. In the past 10 years in the new era, China and the five Central Asian countries have achieved full coverage of the comprehensive strategic partnership, the bilateral practice of a community with a shared future for mankind, and the signing of cooperation documents on the joint construction of the "Belt and Road", which has produced a positive demonstration effect in the region and even the world. In 2022, the heads of state of the six countries jointly announced the building of a China-Central Asia community with a shared future, and the cooperation mechanism between China and Central Asia came into being. The strategic mutual trust between the two sides has reached a new level, mutually beneficial cooperation has added new impetus, friendly exchanges have entered a new stage, and China's relations and regional development with Central Asia have shown unprecedented vitality. President Xi Jinping profoundly pointed out at the video summit marking the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the five Central Asian countries that "the successful code of China's 30-year cooperation with the five Central Asian countries lies in our mutual respect, good-neighborliness and friendship, mutual benefit and win-win results", and clarified the political guarantee and source of strength for the stable and long-term development of friendly relations between China and Central Asian countries, and the continuation of the past and forging ahead.

Mutual trust and assistance in political security. After China and Central Asian countries resolved the traditional border issue and reduced their military strength in the border areas, the strategic mutual trust between the two sides has been deepened. In the face of the complex and ever-changing regional security situation, China shares common weal and woe with the five Central Asian countries, actively practices the new security concept of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable, continuously establishes and improves security cooperation mechanisms, carries out in-depth law enforcement and security cooperation, holds multilateral and bilateral joint exercises and border patrols, joins hands to combat the "three evils", transnational organized crime and drug trafficking, resolutely opposes external interference and instigation of "color revolutions", and effectively safeguards common security interests and regional peace and stability. In the face of the Cold War mentality, zero-sum game, unilateralism and power politics running rampant, China and the five Central Asian countries resolutely oppose hegemonic and hegemonic acts, jointly defend multilateralism, firmly support each other's core interests such as independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, stand up for each other at critical moments, safeguard common strategic interests and legitimate rights and interests, promote the democratization of international relations, and promote the development of the international order in a more just and reasonable direction.

The joint construction of the "Belt and Road" has come to fruition. Central Asia is one of the first initiatives to jointly build the Belt and Road Initiative. Adhering to the principle of consultation, co-construction and sharing, China and Central Asian countries have promoted the Belt and Road Initiative to achieve important early results in Central Asia, and a large number of mutually beneficial and win-win cooperation projects have taken root, bringing tangible benefits to the people of the region. Especially under the framework of the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" initiative and the development strategy of Central Asian countries, 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-Wuzhou Pengsheng Industrial Park, and the China-Tajikistan-U Highway have been successfully completed, bringing good economic and social benefits, providing an important boost to promoting the economic development, people's well-being, good-neighborliness and mutual trust in the region, and making the ancient Silk Road rejuvenate in Central Asia.

Pragmatic cooperation should become bigger and stronger. China and Central Asian countries make full use of the complementarity of economic, trade and industrial structures to continuously expand the space for practical cooperation and development. Data show that in 2022, China's trade volume with the five Central Asian countries reached US$70.2 billion, a record high, an increase of about 100 times over the establishment of diplomatic relations. In the first two months of this year, China's trade volume with the five Central Asian countries increased by 22% year-on-year, maintaining a strong momentum of development. By the end of 2022, China's direct investment in the five Central Asian countries had reached nearly US$15 billion, and a number of cooperation projects in the fields of oil and gas mining, processing and manufacturing, connectivity, and digital science and technology had been jointly implemented, bringing tangible benefits to the people of all countries.

People-to-people exchanges and mutual integration. People-to-people exchanges between China and Central Asian countries under bilateral and multilateral frameworks have developed rapidly, friendly people-to-people exchanges have been continuously strengthened, and mutual understanding and traditional friendship have been continuously deepened. The number of friendly provinces, states and cities between the two sides has reached 62 pairs, and hundreds of thousands of people come and go every year. China has signed a series of government documents on higher education cooperation with Central Asian countries, and the number of Central Asian students studying in China is growing. China's Confucius Institutes and Confucius Classrooms in Central Asian countries have led to a continuous heating up of the "Chinese fever" and "Chinese culture fever", and the first Luban workshop in Central Asia has been put into operation in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan. Central Asian countries have also opened research centers and cultural centers in China. The "China-Kazakhstan Traditional Medicine Center", "China-Central Asia Agricultural Cooperation Center" and "China-Central Asia Comprehensive Agricultural Science and Technology Demonstration Park" were inaugurated, and the "Education and Training Program" and "Poverty Reduction and Benefiting Farmers Program" were officially launched. The general pattern of people-to-people exchanges of diversified interaction between China and Central Asian countries has initially taken shape, consolidating the social foundation of friendly relations between the two sides.

(ii)

The achievements of the past should be cherished, and the future business needs to work together. At present, the evolution of the century-old changes is accelerating, and the changes in the world, the times, and history are unfolding in an unprecedented way. The China-Central Asia Summit summed up the past, focused on the future, and was committed to promoting new development in relations between China and Central Asian countries, helping the two sides better cope with new challenges, firmly exploring a new type of regional cooperation that conforms to the trend of the times and has its own characteristics, working together to build a mutually beneficial and win-win cooperation and development belt, and working together to build a closer China-Central Asia community with a shared future.

It has drawn up a new blueprint for the construction of a community with a shared future between China and Central Asia. President Xi Jinping put forward the important idea of "four persistences" on how to build a China-Central Asia community with a shared future under the new situation, which drew a blueprint and pointed out the direction for all parties to strengthen their sense of community and build a closer China-Central Asia community with a shared future.

It has achieved a new leap in the construction of China-Central Asia mechanism. President Xi Jinping and the heads of state of the five Central Asian countries agreed to take this summit as an opportunity to formally establish the China-Central Asia Heads of State Meeting mechanism, which will be held every two years, alternately in China and Central Asian countries. All sides agreed that the next summit will be held in Kazakhstan in 2025, and will accelerate the improvement of mechanism building, set up a permanent secretariat in China, and give priority to transportation, economy and trade, investment and industry, agriculture, energy, customs and humanities, and solidly and efficiently promote all-round and in-depth cooperation among the six countries. China also proposed the establishment of a meeting and dialogue mechanism in the fields of industry and investment, agriculture, transportation, emergency management, education and political parties, so as to build a broad platform for all-round and mutually beneficial cooperation among countries.

It has opened up new prospects for China-Central Asia cooperation. In his keynote speech, President Xi Jinping put forward a series of important suggestions on strengthening cooperation between China and the five Central Asian countries in political, security, economic, people-to-people exchanges and other aspects, which were highly praised and widely endorsed by all parties, and were fully reflected in the outcome documents of the summit, opening up a new prospect for China-Central Asia cooperation. In terms of political security, we firmly support each other on issues involving each other's core interests such as sovereignty, independence, security and territorial integrity, respect each other's choice of development path in accordance with their national conditions, and resolutely oppose interference by any force in the internal affairs of other countries under any pretext, so that the region will become a pure land of win-win cooperation rather than a battlefield of geopolitical games. In terms of economic cooperation, taking the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative as a new starting point, we will accelerate the docking of development strategies, promote trade liberalization and facilitation, expand industrial and investment cooperation, promote the construction of the China-Central Asia transportation corridor, support the establishment of the China-Central Asia Energy Development Partnership, encourage high-tech cooperation, ensure regional food security, and jointly create a new pattern of in-depth complementarity and highly win-win cooperation. In terms of people-to-people exchanges, China has actively carried out cooperation in sports, archaeology, tourism, medical and health care, successfully held the People's Year of Culture and Art and the China-Central Asia Youth Art Festival between China and Central Asian countries, promoted the establishment of mutual cultural centers, expanded personnel exchanges, encouraged youth exchanges, and jointly implemented the "Cultural Silk Road" plan.

The strongest voice in defense of fairness and justice was issued. The six countries agreed to resolutely combat all forms of terrorism, separatism and extremism, drug trafficking and transnational organized crime, strengthen cooperation in biosecurity, cyber security and emergency response, and continue to help the Afghan people maintain security and stability and achieve peace and reconstruction. The six countries solemnly declare that they will abide by the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, firmly defend multilateralism and universally recognized international law and norms governing international relations, uphold international fairness and justice, promote the development of the international order and global governance system in a more just and rational direction, and make contributions to China and Central Asia to jointly building a community with a shared future for mankind and promoting world peace and development. All parties support and are willing to actively implement the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative, which are of great significance to safeguarding world peace and development and promoting the progress of human civilization.

Standing at a new historical starting point, China and Central Asian countries will continue friendship, promote cooperation, and work together to build a closer China-Central Asia community with a shared future, which will certainly add new impetus to the development and revitalization of the six countries, inject strong positive energy into regional peace and stability, and make greater contributions to promoting the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.

Source: Study Times