BEIJING: Chinese President Xi Jinping’s attendance at the second China-Central Asia Summit in the Kazakh capital of Astana helped renew traditional friendship and draw a blueprint for development together with heads of state of the five Central Asian countries, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Wednesday.
Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remarks while briefing reporters on the conclusion of Xi’s trip.
In Astana, Xi and the Central Asian leaders discussed cooperation plans and achieved more than 100 cooperation outcomes, Wang said.
China-Central Asia Spirit highlighted
Wang noted that the most prominent highlight of this summit is Xi’s announcement of the China-Central Asia Spirit, which connotes four aspects of practices, namely practicing mutual respect and treating each other as equals; seeking to deepen mutual trust and enhancing mutual support; pursuing mutual benefit and win-win cooperation and striving for common development; helping each other in times of need; and standing together through thick and thin.
The Central Asian leaders unanimously agreed to uphold this spirit, strengthening the cohesive force and guiding principles of China-Central Asia cooperation, he added.
Wang said that from Xi’an, where the first China-Central Asia Summit was held in 2023, to Astana, this summit carries important significance in sustaining and strengthening China-Central Asia cooperation.
Against the backdrop of accelerating changes unseen in a century and overlapping global risks, China and the Central Asian countries will be guided by the “China-Central Asia Spirit,” remain committed to the original aspiration of unity, continue to stand on the right side of history and work together to safeguard peace, pursue development, promote progress, uphold justice and jointly build a shared home for China and Central Asia, he added.
High-quality development for China-Central Asia cooperation boosted
Wang said that China and the five Central Asian countries are all developing countries and have always been partners on the path of modernization.
The most distinctive theme at the summit is that the six heads of state together designated 2025 and 2026 as the Years of High-Quality Development of China-Central Asia Cooperation, said Wang.
All parties will focus their cooperation on the six priority areas of smooth trade, industrial investment, connectivity, green mining, agricultural modernization and personnel exchanges to strive for more tangible outcomes, he said.
Xi, together with the heads of state of the five Central Asian countries, witnessed the signing of an action plan for high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, Wang said, noting that this is the first time that China signed Belt and Road cooperation documents with all countries in a neighboring region as a whole.
China is the most important trade and investment partner of Central Asian countries, said Wang. All parties agreed that there is no winner in tariff wars or trade wars, and unilateralism and protectionism will lead nowhere, he noted.
In response to the urgent desire of Central Asia for revitalization and boosting self-development capacities, Xi announced the establishment of three cooperation centers, i.e., on poverty reduction, on education exchange, and on desertification prevention and control, under the China-Central Asia cooperation framework, pledging to provide 3,000 training opportunities to Central Asian countries in the next two years, Wang said.
Flourishing cultural exchanges, deepening people-to-people friendship
The most important pioneering initiative in this summit is the signing of a treaty on eternal good-neighborliness, friendship and cooperation by the heads of state of the six countries to enshrine the principle of everlasting friendship in the form of law, which demonstrates that political mutual trust between China and Central Asian countries has reached a new height, Wang noted.
During the summit, China and Central Asian countries reached a series of new cooperation outcomes in areas like subnational cooperation, personnel exchanges, educational exchanges and cultural tourism, among others, he said.
The heads of state of the six countries witnessed the signing of multiple sister city agreements; thus, the pairs of sister cities between China and the five Central Asian countries have exceeded 100, fulfilling the goal of an initiative proposed by Xi three years ago, Wang added.
