China's Xi in Kazakhstan to cement ties

Arab News

17-06-2025

ASTANA: Xi Jinping celebrated China's 'eternal friendship' with Central Asia at a summit in Kazakhstan on Tuesday, as the Chinese leader blasted tariffs and sought to assert Beijing's influence in a region historically dominated by Russia.
The summit in Astana brought together Xi with the leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.
Under Russia's orbit until the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, the five Central Asian states have courted interest from major powers including China, the European Union and the US since becoming independent.
At the summit, the group signed a pact of 'eternal' friendship as Xi called for closer ties with the resource-rich region.
'We should ... strengthen cooperation with a more enterprising attitude and more practical measures,' said Xi in comments carried by state news agency Xinhua.
Central Asia is also seen as a key logistics hub, given its strategic location between China, Russia, the Middle East and Europe.
While Central Asian leaders continue to view Russia as a strategic partner, ties with Moscow have loosened since the war in Ukraine.
China has also shown willingness to invest in massive infrastructure projects in the region, part of its Belt and Road initiative that uses such financing as a political and diplomatic lever.
In a meeting with Kyrgyzstan's president, Xi called for moves to 'advance high-quality construction of the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway and foster new drivers of growth in clean energy, green minerals and artificial intelligence.'
The five Central Asian nations are trying to take advantage of the growing interest in their region and are coordinating their foreign policies accordingly.
They regularly hold summits with China and Russia to present the region as a unified bloc and attract investment.
High-level '5+1' format talks have also been organized with the European Union, the United States, Turkiye and other Western countries.
'The countries of the region are balancing between different centers of power, wanting to protect themselves from excessive dependence on one partner,' Kyrgyz political scientist Nargiza Muratalieva told AFP.
China has now established itself as Central Asia's leading trading partner, far outstripping the EU and Russia.
Construction of the Uzbekistan-Kyrgyzstan-China railway and the China-Tajikistan highway, which runs through the Pamir Mountains to Afghanistan, are among its planned investments.
New border crossings and 'dry ports' have already been built to process trade, such as Khorgos in Kazakhstan, one of the largest logistics hubs in the world.
'Neither Russia nor Western institutions are capable of allocating financial resources for infrastructure so quickly and on such a large scale, sometimes bypassing transparent procedures,' said Muratalieva.
Kazakhstan said last week that Russia would lead the construction of its first nuclear power plant but that it wanted China to build the second.
'Central Asia is rich in natural resources such as oil, gas, uranium, gold and other minerals that the rapidly developing Chinese economy needs,' Muratalieva said.
'Ensuring uninterrupted supplies of these resources, bypassing unstable sea routes, is an important goal of Beijing,' the analyst added.