Chinese President Xi Jinping at the China-Central Asia Summit on May 19, 2023 in Xi’an, northern China (POOL/AFP/FLORENCE LO)
Chinese leader Xi Xinping on Friday called on his country and Central Asia to “fully exploit” opportunities for cooperation in trade, economy and industrial capacity.
Addressing the heads of state of five former Soviet republics at an unprecedented summit, Xi urged them to “fully exploit opportunities for traditional cooperation in economy, trade, industrial capacity, energy and transport”, according to an excerpt from the speech provided by the news agency Chine Nouvelle.
He also stressed the need to develop “new engines of growth (…) such as finance, agriculture, poverty reduction, lower carbon emissions, health and digital innovation”.
The Chinese president is hosting this week the very first edition of a “China-Central Asia summit” since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1992 between the Asian giant and these republics (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan) after the fall of the USSR.
Xi added that the region and China should “take the lead” in this project and “deepen strategic mutual trust” to “maintain everlasting friendship”.
Beijing will strive to develop transport links with the region and accelerate the expansion of the gas pipeline linking Central Asia to China.
Xi also pledged 26 billion yuan ($3.7 billion) in support for the region.
In a bid to “maintain everlasting friendship”, Xi said the leaders would meet again in Kazakhstan in 2025.
“China is trying to convince Central Asian countries that a multipolar world is emerging,” Niva Yau, a researcher at the Atlantic Council’s Global China Hub, told AFP. She noted “unity” in Central Asia “in favor of close ties with China”.
Chinese President Xi Jinping at the China-Central Asia Summit on May 19, 2023 in Xi’an, northern China (POOL/AFP/Mark CRISTINO)
The Chinese number 1 also stressed the need to expand security cooperation to combat what Beijing calls the region’s “three evils”: separatism, terrorism and extremism.
“The six countries should resolutely oppose external interference in regional countries’ internal affairs and attempts to instigate ‘color revolutions’,” Xi added.
– New Silk Roads –
China estimates that its trade with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan reached 70 billion dollars (64 billion euros) last year and climbed over one year by 22% during the first quarter of 2023.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (3rd d) and his counterparts from Central Asian countries meeting in Xi’an on May 19, 2023 in northern China (POOL/AFP/FLORENCE LO)
Central Asia features prominently in China’s “Belt and Road” initiative, also known as the Belt and Road.
Formerly members of the Russian Empire and then of the Soviet Union, these nations maintain privileged economic, linguistic and diplomatic ties with Moscow.
But with the war in Ukraine, Russian influence waned.
“Russia’s military involvement in Ukraine has led to the imposition of sanctions by the West, which has weakened Russia’s power and led to a relative decline in its influence in Central Asia,” he told AFP. AFP Lu Gang, director of the Center for Central Asian Studies at East China Normal University.
“The result has led Central Asian countries to put more emphasis on China’s economic cooperation and political support,” Lu added.
With this summit, “Xi Jinping will position himself as a leader capable of promoting development and peace in the world,” Zhiqun Zhu, professor of international relations and political science at Bucknell University in the United States, told AFP. -United.
This meeting, described as “extremely important” by Beijing, is organized at a time when a summit of the rich democracies of the G7 (Canada, France, United States, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom) is being held in Hiroshima, Japan. United).
The G7 will be devoted in particular to the establishment of a common strategy to “repel the growing influence of China in the world”, noted Zhiqun Zhu.
© 2023 AFP
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