Chinese President Xi Jinpin and leaders of the five Central Asian states of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan have signed a declaration outlining their support for each other as Beijing looks to strengthen ties with its neighbors from the former Soviet Union.
“China and the Central Asian countries will firmly support each other on issues concerning their respective core interests such as sovereignty, independence, security, and territorial integrity,” Xi told reporters on May 19 in China’s ancient city of Xi’an, summing up the declaration that resulted from the two-day China-Central Asia summit.
“This summit has added new impetus to the development and revitalization of the six counties, and injected strong positive energy into regional peace and stability,” Xi stressed, adding that the leaders agreed to promote in-depth cooperation across the board, with priorities given to transport, economy and trade, investment and industry, agriculture, energy, customs, and people-to-people exchanges.
China, the world’s second-largest economy, has invested billions of dollars in Central Asia’s energy reserves and considers the region an important part of Beijing’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative connecting China with Europe.
“To stimulate our cooperation and Central Asian development, China will provide Central Asian nations with a total of 26 billion yuan ($3.8 billion) of financing support and grants,” Xi said.
According to Chinese officials, Beijing’s trade with the five countries reached $70 billion in 2022 and expanded 22 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2023.
China has earlier announced it was working on establishing a regional anti-terrorism center to train Central Asian security forces.
Xi and presidents Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev of Kazakhstan, Sadyr Japarov of Kyrgyzstan, Emomali Rahmon of Tajikistan, Serdar Berdymukhammedov of Turkmenistan, and Shavkat Mirziyoev of Uzbekistan agreed to hold China-Central Asia summits on a biannual basis. The next summit will be held in in 2025 in Kazakhstan.
The summit marking the 31st anniversary of diplomatic ties between China and the five former Soviet republics that traditionally have been within Russia’s sphere of influence comes amid Beijing’s apparent efforts to increase its positions in Central Asia with Moscow distracted by its ongoing war in Ukraine.
On the eve of the summit, police in Kazakhstan detained several activists who tried to hold rallies against the agreement on visa-free entrance for Chinese citizens traveling to Kazakhstan. Kazakh and Chinese leaders signed the agreement on the summit’s sidelines.