By He Yin, People’s Daily
Chinese President Xi Jinping, on May 19, chaired the first China-Central Asia Summit and delivered a keynote speech in Xi’an, northwest China’s Shaanxi province. The summit was also attended by heads of state of the five Central Asian countries: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
The six heads of state reviewed the history of friendly exchanges between China and Central Asia, took stock of their cooperation outcomes, summed up successful experiences, and built new consensus, charting a blueprint for the future development of China-Central Asia relations.
Facing profound changes unseen in a century and bearing in mind the fundamental interests and bright future of the people, the six countries are determined to foster an even closer China-Central Asia community with a shared lot, which will bring more benefits to the people and make more remarkable contributions to regional peace and development.
The China-Central Asia relationship is steeped in history, driven by broad actual needs, and built on solid popular support. The relations are brimming with vigor and vitality in the new era.
For millennia, the people of China and Central Asia have complemented and learned from each other, creating the glories of the ancient Silk Road. Since the two sides established diplomatic relations, they have always respected each other, enjoyed good neighborliness, and worked in partnership and solidarity for mutual benefit through thick and thin. Their state-to-state ties have grown from good friendship to strategic partnerships and then to a community with a shared future, achieving historic leapfrog development.
In today’s world, transformations unseen in a century are accelerating; the international and regional situation is changing profoundly and complexly; opportunities and challenges are unprecedented. At this critical historical juncture, the China-Central Asia Summit follows the trend of win-win cooperation, which is in line with the people’s fundamental interests and is conducive to the development and revitalization of the six countries.
In his keynote speech, Xi proposed four points on what Central Asia the world needs, four principles for building a China-Central Asia community with a shared future, and eight points for good planning, development, and progress of China-Central Asia cooperation.
It marked the first comprehensive and systematic exposition of China’s foreign policy toward Central Asia by China’s top leader in the new era. It has won high recognition and received warm responses from the heads of state of the five Central Asian countries. It has offered fundamental guidance for building a closer China-Central Asia community with a shared future.
Building an even closer China-Central Asia community with a shared future is the most important political outcome of the summit, which demonstrates to the world the determination of China and Central Asia to renew their millennia-old friendship and open up new vistas for the future.
Xi said in his keynote speech that the world needs a stable, prosperous, harmonious, and interconnected Central Asia. He stressed the sovereignty, security, independence, and territorial integrity of Central Asian countries must be upheld, their people’s choice of development paths must be respected, and their efforts for peace, harmony, and tranquility must be supported.
His remarks strongly resonated with the leaders of Central Asian countries. During the summit, they voiced firm support for each other to choose a development path compatible with their national conditions, firmly uphold their core interests, including sovereignty, independence, security, and territorial integrity, and oppose interference in others’ internal affairs.
Central Asian countries fully recognize the significance of the Chinese path to modernization for the world’s development and reiterate their firm commitment to the one-China principle. As forces for peace and justice, China and Central Asian countries, with mutual understanding and joint efforts, will surely inject more positive energy and stability into this complicated and volatile world.
During the summit, China and five Central Asian countries signed seven bilateral and multilateral documents and over 100 cooperation agreements in various fields. The achievements and impacts of the summit were unprecedented.
The China + Central Asia (C+C5) cooperation mechanism results from China and Central Asian countries moving in the same direction. It conforms to the region’s development, the trend of the times, and the aspiration of the people, enjoying strong endogenous impetus and broad development prospects.
The summit established a comprehensive framework for the mechanism. Taking the opportunity of this summit, the six countries have officially inaugurated the China-Central Asia Summit Mechanism, with China and Central Asian countries taking turns to host the biennial summit.
Head-of-state diplomacy will offer strategic guidance on enhancing top-level planning and coordination for China-Central Asia relations.
The first China-Central Asia Summit was a grand meeting that blended history and the future. Xi’an, as the starting point of the ancient Silk Road, has once again become a starting point in the new era witnessing the joint efforts of China and Central Asian countries to create a brighter future.
The summit demonstrated unity, creativity, and efficiency, creating a new platform and opening new prospects for China-Central Asia cooperation. It marked a new milestone in the development of China-Central Asia relations. It is believed that with joint efforts, China’s relations with Central Asian countries will forge ahead like a ship braving all winds and waves, offer new vitality to the development and revitalization of the six countries, inject powerful and positive energy into peace and stability of the region, and make unique contributions to building a community with a shared future for mankind.
