BEIJING: China President Xi Jinping signed a treaty to elevate ties with Central Asian nations on Tuesday, as Beijing looks to further deepen cooperation on trade, energy and infrastructure with the resource-rich region.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Beijing has been stepping up efforts to boost economic links with Central Asian nations traditionally within Russia’s sphere of influence, drawn by their strategic location and energy resources.
At a regional summit in the Kazakh capital of Astana on Tuesday, Xi, lauding a milestone, signed a treaty of “permanent good-neighbourliness and friendly cooperation” with leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, China’s official Xinhua news agency reported.
The summit this week is the second such gathering, following the pomp-filled, inaugural gathering in northwest China in 2023. Both occasions have coincided with meetings of G7 leaders.
“At present, the world is undergoing accelerating changes unseen in a century, entering a new period of turbulence and transformation,” Xinhua quoted Xi as saying in a speech at the summit.
“Trade wars and tariff wars produce no winners, and unilateralism, protectionism, and hegemonism are bound to harm both others and oneself,” he said, in a thinly veiled swipe at the United States that had engaged in escalating tariffs with Beijing.
“China is ready to work with Central Asian countries to safeguard international justice, oppose hegemonism and power politics,” Xi said.
He also pledged 1.5 billion yuan ($208.86 million) in grant assistance to the Central Asian countries this year to support their livelihood and development projects, and called for more cooperation in areas including trade, minerals and agriculture.
Despite a trade truce with the US, Beijing has been keen to consolidate relations with its regional partners.
China’s two-way trade with the five Central Asian countries reached a record 286.42 billion yuan in the first five months this year, a 10.4% year-on-year increase, Xinhua reported citing the Chinese Customs.
Turkmenistan, a major supplier of natural gas for China, is the only Central Asian nation with a trade surplus with China. Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan’s trade deficits with China run into the tens of billions.
Energy, mineral cooperation
In separate bilateral meetings with the regional leaders, Xi called for expanded cooperation in natural gas, minerals, international railway and law enforcement, according to summaries posted by the Chinese foreign ministry.
In meetings with the Uzbek and Kyrgyz presidents on Tuesday, he urged progress on the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway, an overland route bypassing Russia
The project has been discussed since the 1990s but gained new importance after the sanctions on Russia resulted in shippers between China and Europe avoiding sending goods via Russia.
The five former Soviet republics offer China alternative routes to secure fuel and food in the event of disruptions elsewhere.
In the long-term, the Central Asia route could potentially help cut freight transport times between China and Europe.
In a separate meeting with Turkmen President Serdar Berdymukhamedov, Xi said “both sides should expand the scale of natural gas cooperation, explore cooperation in non-resource fields, and optimize trade structure.”
