Chinese President Xi Jinping has signed a treaty with the five Central Asian nations to strengthen China’s relations.
Xi made it clear during the summit in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, that Beijing is eager to enhance and broaden cooperation in a number of areas, including infrastructure, energy, trade, and goods transit.
Given the distraction of its protracted war with Ukraine and focus on bolstering its military economy, Russia is currently finding it difficult to sustain and expand its political and economic ties with Central Asia, a traditional zone of influence for Moscow.
Along with China, the main EU countries, the US, the UK, and South Korea are also vying for prospects in Central Asia, including the extraction of vital minerals from its abundant resources.
Xi signed a treaty of “permanent good-neighbourliness and friendly cooperation” with the leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, China’s official Xinhua.
The China-Central Asia summit is the second of its kind. The first was a pomp-filled affair that took place in northwest China in 2023.
Central Asia has a population of around 80mn people, with around 20mn in Kazakhstan and approximately 37mn in Uzbekistan.
“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.
“China is ready to work with Central Asian countries to safeguard international justice, oppose hegemonism and power politics,” Xi added.
Announcing 1.5bn yuan ($208.9mn) in grant assistance to the Central Asian countries from Beijing this year to back livelihood and development projects, Xi called for more cooperation in trade, minerals, agriculture and other areas.
China’s two-way trade with the five Central Asian countries totalled a record 286.42bn yuan ($39.86bn) from January to end-May, according to reports.
