Translation. Region: Russian Federal
Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
BEIJING, June 13 (Xinhua) — In the summer sun-drenched Xi’an, China’s ancient capital, six pomegranate trees stand gracefully near the site of the first China-Central Asia Summit in May 2023, their branches hanging low and laden with fruit.
Planted two years ago by Chinese President Xi Jinping and the leaders of five Central Asian countries, this living avenue serves as a vivid testimony to the increasingly close and dynamic ties between China and Central Asia.
Building on past achievements, Xi and his Central Asian counterparts will gather in the Kazakh city of Astana later this month for a second summit to ensure even closer cooperation on trade, security and connectivity in the heart of Eurasia.
FORMATION OF A NEW PARADIGM
The Xi’an summit in 2023 was the first ever meeting of heads of state under the China-Central Asia cooperation mechanism. In the embrace of the ancient city, they agreed to hold the summit every two years, alternately in China and Central Asia.
Last year, the mechanism was further institutionalized with the establishment of a secretariat in Xi’an, the capital of Xi’s home province of Shaanxi.
The Chinese leader attaches great importance to China’s relations with the region. In his opinion, Central Asia is at a strategic crossroads, linking East and West, North and South.
“Developing friendly and cooperative relations with Central Asian countries is a priority of China’s foreign policy,” Xi Jinping said during his first visit to Central Asia since being elected as China’s president in 2013.
Since then, he has visited the region eight times, deepening partnerships bilaterally and through platforms such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia.
Today, Central Asia is the only region in the world where every country is a strategic partner of China. According to Xi Jinping, these partnerships have paved a new path of good-neighborliness and mutually beneficial cooperation, creating a new paradigm of international relations.
The main event of the Xi’an summit was the signing of the Xi’an Declaration, in which the Chinese president and the leaders of the five Central Asian countries promised to work together to build a closer China-Central Asia community with a shared future.
This promise is in line with the core idea of Xiplomacy’s diplomatic strategy: creating a community with a shared destiny for humanity. Notably, this idea has already been fully realized at the bilateral level in Central Asia.
Sheradil Baktygulov, Director of the Institute of World Politics of Kyrgyzstan, noted that the common political will of Xi Jinping and the leaders of Central Asian countries is the key to the sustainable development of Chinese-Central Asian cooperation.
“This cooperation not only strengthens bilateral ties, but also lays the foundation for a new model of multilateral cooperation in the Eurasian region,” he added.
The Chinese leader’s strong personal rapport with Central Asian leaders is helping to strengthen these ties. At the Xi’an summit, Xi Jinping hailed Tajik President Emomali Rahmon as an “old friend.” During talks with Xi, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev called him his “dear brother.”
Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, also an experienced sinologist, arrived in Xi’an on his 70th birthday. Xi told him: “Your visit on such a special occasion speaks volumes about the strength of our bilateral relations and confirms your unique bond with China.”
REVIVAL OF THE GREAT SILK ROAD
“Start loading!” Xi Jinping and K.-Zh. Tokayev jointly gave this command at the launch ceremony of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route China-Europe, which took place in July 2024 in Astana.
The event marked the formal establishment of a multi-dimensional connectivity network combining roads, railways, airlines and pipelines to better link Asia to Europe via the Caspian Sea. The network is expected to become a vibrant artery under the Belt and Road Initiative.
While the ancient Silk Road witnessed vibrant trade and cultural exchanges between China and Central Asia, Xi Jinping sees the region as an important partner in modern Belt and Road cooperation.
In September 2013, also in Astana, the Chinese President gave a historic speech at Nazarbayev University, where he first outlined his vision for the construction of the “Silk Road Economic Belt” – a key component of the Belt and Road Initiative.
“We can actively discuss the best ways to improve cross-border transport infrastructure,” Xi said, “and work to build a transport network connecting East, West and South Asia to promote economic development and travel in the region.”
In the years since, the Chinese leader’s vision has steadily been realized. For example, late last year, the Kyrgyz border city of Jalal-Abad hosted a ceremony to mark the start of construction of the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway. In a congratulatory message, Xi Jinping called for the railway to become a “new demonstration project” for Belt and Road cooperation.
The railway will start at the ancient Silk Road junction of Kashgar (Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, Northwest China), pass into Kyrgyzstan via the Torugart Pass, reach Jalal-Abad and end in Andijan in eastern Uzbekistan.
According to Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov, this railway is not just a transport corridor, but an important strategic bridge connecting the countries of the East and West.
Cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative has effectively boosted trade, travel, and exchanges in the region. In 2024, trade between China and Central Asian countries reached a record US$94.8 billion, driven in part by the booming cross-border e-commerce. China is now the region’s top trading partner and a major source of investment.
In 2014, Tajikistan became the first country to sign a memorandum of understanding with China on the joint development of the Silk Road Economic Belt. Since then, cooperation has yielded tangible results, many of which have been personally supported by Xi Jinping, ranging from the construction of new highways and power plants to new iconic buildings in cities.
Tajikistan is also home to Central Asia’s first “Lu Ban Workshop” – a Chinese vocational education center that has already trained more than 1,500 students in practical skills in engineering, architecture, water management and environmental protection, cultivating talent for the country’s future development.
During his state visit to Dushanbe in 2024, Xi Jinping told Emomali Rahmon: “I saw a more prosperous Tajikistan.”
WEAVING THE “CULTURAL CANVAS”
In the fall of 2022, during a visit to the legendary Silk Road city of Samarkand, Xi Jinping presented Uzbekistan President Sh. Mirziyoyev with a special gift: a miniature of Khiva, an ancient outpost on the Silk Road.
Khiva is the first cultural heritage project in Central Asia supported by China. Years of restoration work led by Chinese specialists have given the ancient city a new look.
“The project to preserve and restore historical monuments in Khiva, launched during my visit to Samarkand in 2013, has been successfully completed, further enhancing the charm of this ancient city,” Xi wrote in an opinion piece ahead of his 2022 visit to Uzbekistan.
During his previous visit to the country in 2016, Xi met with Chinese experts working on the project. “Make sure the cultural relics are well protected,” he urged them.
Since then, joint archaeological research by scientists from China and Central Asia has spread across the region, including the ancient city of Rakhat in Kazakhstan and the ancient Buddhist temple at Krasnaya Rechka in Kyrgyzstan.
Xi Jinping has repeatedly stressed that the friendship between China and Central Asia has a long history. He has repeatedly referred to the life story of Zhang Qian, the Han Dynasty envoy who traveled west more than 2,100 years ago and opened the way for lasting friendship and exchanges between China and the region. He has also stressed the need to “build on our traditional friendship.”
During his state visit to Kazakhstan in 2024, Xi, together with President K.-Z. Tokayev, opened the Kazakhstan branch of Beijing Language and Culture University, the same university where the Kazakh president studied Chinese in the 1980s. Xi expressed hope that the establishment of the branch would enhance mutual understanding between the two peoples, especially between the younger generations.
During his visit, Xi met with a group of schoolchildren who greeted him in Chinese and sang a Chinese song. Some of them spoke of their dream of attending Tsinghua University, the Chinese leader’s alma mater.
“I also wish with all my heart that you will be able to enter good universities in the future. And we will be glad if you continue your education in China,” the Chinese President said with a smile.
Commenting on the broader impact of such exchanges, Uzbek political commentator Sharofiddin Tulaganov noted that under the cooperation mechanism between China and Central Asia, mutual learning between civilizations will be greatly expanded.
In today’s complex international environment, he added, such institutionalized humanitarian exchanges will provide valuable cultural impetus to efforts to maintain regional peace and promote common development. –0–