The China-Central Asia Summit was held from May 18 to 19 in Xi’an, the capital of northwestern China’s Shanxi province. It will be interesting to note that the Chinese summit marked the first in-person high-level meeting between Chinese President Xi and Central Asian leaders since Beijing established diplomatic ties with their countries more than three decades ago. Experts and experts on Central Asia believe that China and the five Central Asian countries – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan – share a broad space for industrial and investment cooperation, which will drive strong momentum in high-quality development in the region. will provide.
As the world’s second largest energy consumer, China has invested billions of dollars in Central Asia to facilitate access to the region’s natural gas reserves. In addition, railroads between Europe and China passing through Central Asia are an important part of Beijing’s flagship infrastructure project, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
Due to sanctions on Russia, Central Asia is playing a more prominent role in international affairs. With the Belt and Road Initiative, Central Asia is seen as a transit through which trade can flow between China and Europe. Central Asia was also historically linked to the Silk Road trade routes, which served as a crossroads for the movement of people, goods and ideas between Europe and the Far East. Chinese President Xi attaches great importance to China and Central Asia. On Friday, he said that “China is ready to coordinate development strategies with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan and promote modernization of all,” Xi said while addressing the China-Central Asia Summit in Xi’an. Said. “The summit has given new impetus to the development and revitalization of the six countries and infused strong positive energy into regional peace and stability,” Xi told a news conference with his Central Asian counterparts later.
The Chinese President told other leaders that their development paths would be freely chosen and respected, and that their sovereignty, security, independence and territorial integrity would be safeguarded. China is also looking to revive economic ties with Central Asia after the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted development over the past three years, according to an article in Chinese state newspaper The Global Times. According to China’s Ministry of Commerce, China’s direct investment in all Central Asian countries exceeded $15 billion (13.8 billion) by the end of March this year.
Before the pandemic, China was on track to become the largest trading partner for all Central Asian countries, and while the number dropped dramatically during the pandemic, China is now expected to be the top trading partner next year, according to experts. Will make a grand comeback as and touch new heights. Following the summit, Beijing is expected to launch new visa-free initiatives with several Central Asian countries. Currently, both Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have reached visa-free regime agreements with China, while Kyrgyzstan is still negotiating terms with Beijing. Visa-free regime is an effective initiative that China will adopt to further strengthen its relations with Central Asia and this cannot be done without the free flow of businessmen.
You can also say that the Central Asian countries have chosen to side with Russia and China. At a time when Russia has not been able to provide as much cooperation to Central Asia as in the past, China provides a lot of investment and reassurance to Central Asian leaders. This benefits both China and Central Asia, and this conference will prove to be a milestone in this series.
(Reporter-Devendra Singh)
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