China and the five Central Asian countries held a summit meeting on the 18th and 19th and agreed to strengthen cooperation in all directions, including supporting each other’s core interests, significantly expanding trade volume, and jointly responding to security threats.
China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan announced this in the ‘Xian Declaration’, which contains the results of the ‘1st China-Central Asia Summit’ that closed in Xi’an, China on the 19th.
In the declaration, China and the five Central Asian countries reaffirmed their mutual understanding and support on issues related to each other’s core interests. We support safeguarding the integrity and territorial integrity of China, and support the independent and independent domestic and foreign policies adopted by each country.”
In addition, “Each country saw that the potential for cooperation between China and Central Asian countries was very great, and decided to fully expand the scale of trade,” he said.
China and the five Central Asian countries “strongly oppose all forms of terrorism, separatism and extremism”, “strengthen the exchange of experience in ensuring the safety of key projects and large-scale events, and ensure the safe and stable operation of strategic cooperation projects.” “We decided to jointly respond to security threats.”
In addition, “the five Central Asian countries highly valued the CCP’s experience in national governance and positively evaluated the importance of developing ‘Chinese-style modernization’ for world development.” I confirmed again that I would protect it.”
In addition, contents such as further strengthening cooperation in aspects such as agriculture and livestock industry, energy, infrastructure construction, and personnel exchange were specified in the declaration.
The declaration also included the content that “China and the five Central Asian countries resolutely oppose the destruction of the legal regime and the ‘color revolution’ scheme, and agreed to oppose meddling in the internal affairs of other countries in any form and under any pretext.”
The Declaration also included the agreement to strengthen the connection between President Xi Jinping’s core external agenda, the Belt and Road Initiative (land and sea Silk Road), and the development strategies of Central Asian countries.
The summit, which was held in Xi’an on the 18th and 19th, was attended by President Xi, Kazakhstan President Kassim-Jomart Tokayev, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, Kyrgyzstan President Sadir Zafarov, Tajikistan President Emomali Rahmon, and Serdar Berdimuhamme. The heads of five Central Asian countries attended, including President of Turkmenistan Dopp.
This is the first time since China established diplomatic ties with five Central Asian countries in 1992, it has held a face-to-face multilateral summit with the leaders of the five countries at the same time.
The five Central Asian countries were traditionally recognized as being under the influence of Russia even after gaining independence from the former Soviet Union. However, as these countries started to distance themselves from Russia after the war in Ukraine, Russia’s influence is evaluated to have greatly weakened.
On the other hand, expectations are raised that China will greatly strengthen its influence in Central Asia with this summit as an opportunity.
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.