* On Sunday, China’s Xinhua News Agency published a comprehensive think tank report titled “Championing the China-Central Asia Spirit: Achievements, Opportunities and Prospects for Regional Cooperation,” expounding how the partnership has matured into a model for regional cooperation — both in vision and results.
* China’s high-quality development, high-standard opening-up and the new wave of technological and industrial transformation are creating major opportunities for China-Central Asia cooperation, which has been injecting fresh momentum into Eurasian prosperity.
* China-Central Asia cooperation, with the goal of building a closer community with a shared future, embodies a broader vision of regional prosperity and global development.
ASTANA, June 23 (Xinhua) — At the second China-Central Asia Summit held here last week, Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed the China-Central Asia Spirit, characterized by “mutual respect, mutual trust, mutual benefit and mutual assistance for the joint pursuit of modernization through high-quality development,” in a keynote speech.
The concept was echoed and endorsed unanimously by Central Asian countries’ leaders, highlighting decades of close collaboration and laying out a clear path toward a bright future with shared development and prosperity.
On Sunday, China’s Xinhua News Agency published a comprehensive think tank report titled “Championing the China-Central Asia Spirit: Achievements, Opportunities and Prospects for Regional Cooperation,” expounding how the partnership has matured into a model for regional cooperation — both in vision and results.
In the new era, China and Central Asia have become good neighbors, friends, partners and brothers sharing a common destiny, and set a model of regional cooperation for the world, the report said.
PRODUCTIVE COOPERATION
China-Central Asia trade reached 94.8 billion U.S. dollars in 2024, marking an increase of 5.4 billion dollars year-on-year. This remarkable growth epitomized the deepening and solidifying Belt and Road cooperation since the first China-Central Asia Summit in 2023.
Cooperation between the two sides in the new era has yielded substantial results in key areas: trade and economic exchanges, infrastructure connectivity, energy collaboration, emerging sectors, development capacity building, mutual learning among civilizations, and peace and security, the report said.
Infrastructure connectivity has laid a foundation for deepening cooperation. Projects like the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway and the China-Europe Caspian Sea Express are transforming Central Asia from a landlocked region to a land-linked hub, linking it with markets in Europe, the Middle East and South Asia, thereby enhancing the region’s geo-economic standing and offering diverse opportunities. More Chinese cities are opening freight train routes and direct flights to Central Asia, improving trade flows and facilitating travel on both sides.
People-to-people bonds have been strengthened through cultural exchanges among civilizations. Tourism and culture years and art festivals of Central Asian countries are getting popular in China, while Chinese films and TV dramas, such as Min-Ning Town and To the Wonder, have become great hits in Central Asia.
Central Asia is one of the fastest-growing and most promising regions for inbound tourism to China, while China is a significant source of outbound tourists for Central Asia.
Security cooperation has laid a foundation for development. From the first China-Central Asia ministerial conference on public security, internal affairs in September 2024 to the first meeting of the China-Kazakhstan Horgos International Border Cooperation Center local coordination mechanism in November of the same year, these mechanisms underscore both sides’ growing commitments to building a shared security community.
Lu Shanbing, dean of the Central Asia Institute of China’s Northwest University, said that a stable, united and peaceful Central Asia is taking shape, laying a strong foundation for a more robust China-Central Asia community with a shared future.
GREATER POTENTIAL
China’s high-quality development, high-standard opening-up and the new wave of technological and industrial transformation are creating major opportunities for China-Central Asia cooperation, which has been injecting fresh momentum into Eurasian prosperity, the report said.
China is the world’s largest developing country and has consistently contributed the most to global economic growth annually. China and Central Asian countries have highly complementary industrial structures, offering ample room for coordinated development of industrial and supply chains. Taking the energy sector, Central Asian countries are essential suppliers, while China excels in energy exploration and development technologies, equipment manufacturing, and energy-related chemical industries.
Besides, China and Central Asian countries enjoy broad prospects for cooperation in areas like improving the digital business environment, and advancing new digital infrastructure and cross-border logistics projects.
Green industries, the digital economy, artificial intelligence and aerospace are emerging as new growth drivers in bilateral cooperation, while cross-border e-commerce and online education are delivering tangible benefits to people across regions.
Loretta O’Donnell, vice provost of Academic Affairs at Kazakhstan’s Nazarbayev University, said Central Asian countries and China enjoy broad prospects for cooperation in fields including history, science and technology, and cultural heritage preservation. It is hoped that through mutual learning and collaboration, both sides can contribute together to the region’s prosperity and development, she added.
MORE PROSPEROUS COMMUNITY
China-Central Asia cooperation, with the goal of building a closer community with a shared future, embodies a broader vision of regional prosperity and global development, the report said.
The report called for joint endeavors in four aspects — mutual assistance, common development, universal security and everlasting friendship, in order to build a more prosperous China-Central Asia community with a shared future.
As for mutual assistance, the report stressed the need for all countries to rely on head-of-state diplomacy as strategic guidance, deepen synergy between the Belt and Road Initiative and Central Asian countries’ national strategies, and facilitate the implementation of summit outcomes.
To further promote common development, the two sides should strengthen cooperation on climate governance and prioritize green energy development, the report said, calling for integrating advanced technologies so as to enable the digital and intelligent transformation of traditional cooperation projects.
In terms of security, the report called on China and Central Asian countries, in the face of traditional and non-traditional security threats, to maintain zero tolerance for the “three forces” of evils — terrorism, extremism and separatism, and support each other in safeguarding political security and social stability.
To enhance the everlasting friendship, the report advocated for promoting cooperation in education, cultural and artistic exchanges, and tourism through expanding faculty and student exchange programs, and enriching tourism products and solutions.
It is widely and firmly believed that, the report said, China-Central Asia cooperation in the new era will deliver greater development and well-being to the peoples of the region, and inject more stability and positive energy into an increasingly volatile world. (Video reporters: Meng Jing, Fu Ruixiang, Liang Aiping; video editors: Liang Wanshan, Luohui, Hong Yan)■
