This year marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties 
between China and the five Central Asian nations of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, 
Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

The leaders of the six countries held a virtual summit commemorating the 30th 
anniversary on Tuesday, further setting course for deeper China-Central Asia 
relations.

Chinese President Xi Jinping chaired the virtual summit in Beijing, saying 
China is ready to work with Central Asian countries in building a closer 
community with a shared future.

Xi has on various occasions called for closer cooperation between China and 
Central Asia, especially to boost economy and trade, maintain regional peace 
and security, and promote democracy in international relations.

Code of success

President Xi on Tuesday pointed out that the keys to the successful cooperation 
between China and the five Central Asian countries are mutual respect, good 
neighborliness and friendship, solidarity, and mutual benefit.

These principles are valuable experience and shared wealth for the countries, 
and serve as political guarantees for stable and lasting relations between 
China and the five countries as well as the source of strength for friendly 
exchanges in the future, he added. 

China and the five Central Asian countries have achieved solid and fruitful 
results in the past three decades. China's trade with the Central Asian nations 
has grown by more than 100 times in the period, said the Ministry of Commerce 
on Monday.

Over the 30-year period, the stocks of China's direct investment in the five 
countries have exceeded $14 billion, according to data released by the Chinese 
Ministry of Commerce in January.

The five Central Asian nations all signed on to the Belt and Road Initiative 
(BRI) proposed by China. The BRI has supported Central Asian countries in their 
post-pandemic recovery, the World Bank noted in a report. 

China's commitments

The Chinese president on Tuesday also reaffirmed China's commitment to 
supporting the five Central Asian countries in following a development path 
that is suited to their own conditions.

No matter how the international situation changes, no matter how far China 
develops in the future, it will always be a good neighbor, good partner, good 
friend and good brother for Central Asian countries to trust and rely on, Xi 
added.

He also said China firmly supports the five countries in safeguarding their 
national sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity, pursuing national 
revitalization and unity and self-reliance, and playing a greater role in the 
international arena.

Proposals on building brighter future together 

Eyeing a brighter future for China-Central Asia ties, Xi on Tuesday also put 
forward a series of proposals on how the two sides should continue their 
friendship and cooperation to strive for the common welfare of their peoples. 

Xi voiced the necessity to magnify the exemplary role of good-neighborly 
friendship, urging the two sides to strengthen high-level exchanges and 
strategic communication and organize a series of dialogue and cooperation 
mechanisms such as the "China plus Central Asia" foreign ministers' meeting. 

"We firmly oppose attempts by external forces to foment color revolutions in 
Central Asia, firmly oppose interference in other countries' internal affairs 
under the pretext of human rights, and firmly oppose any force that tries to 
disrupt the tranquil life of the peoples of our six countries," said Xi.  

Xi also pledged to build a cooperation belt for high-quality development with 
Central Asian countries, vowing to increase China's trade with these countries 
to $70 billion by 2030. 

For defending regional peace, Xi urged continuous efforts to crack down on the 
"three evil forces" of terrorism, extremism and separatism. 

China will provide another 50 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Central 
Asian countries in 2022 and set up traditional medicine centers in countries 
with such need, he added.  

The Chinese-Uzbek Center for Traditional Medicine opened in the Uzbek capital 
Tashkent in June 2020, offering traditional Chinese medicine services.

To increase people-to-people exchanges, Xi also vowed to bring the number of 
sister cities with the five countries to 100 pairs in the next five to 10 years 
and provide 1,200 government scholarships to the five countries in the next 
five years. 

Xi also announced that China will provide a grant assistance of $500 million to 
Central Asian countries in support of livelihood programs, echoing his Global 
Development Initiative, which aims to jointly tackle global risks and 
challenges and advance the UN's 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda.  

With the Beijing Winter Olympics just around the corner, the leaders of the 
five Central Asian countries also said they eagerly look forward to attending 
the opening ceremony of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics next week. 

https://news.cgtn.com/news/2022-01-25/President-Xi-Jinping-chairs-C-C5-virtual-summit-176VRPYZESk/index.html 


SOURCE: CGTN