XIAN, China: Chinese President Xi Jinping has said that China wants to further cement relations with Kazakhstan in times of both “prosperity and adversity.”
President Xi told his visiting Kazakh counterpart on Wednesday that both the countries should “promote the construction of a China-Kazakhstan community with a shared future featuring friendship from generation-to-generation, a high degree of mutual trust, together in prosperity and adversity”.
This week, China will for the first time host an in-person summit of Central Asian leaders, building ties in Russia’s backyard as China’s relations with the West sour.
Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan — all previously part of the Soviet Union — are seeking other sources of investment as Moscow diverts its resources into the war against Ukraine.
President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev of Kazakhstan, a vast steppe nation with rich agricultural and energy resources, was the first of the five Central Asian leaders to reach the northwestern Chinese city of Xian for the summit.
“Your state visit to China demonstrates the high level of relations between our two countries and once again confirms the indissoluble bond with China.”
Kazakhstan will target $40bn in annual two-way trade with China by 2030, up from over $31bn in 2022, Tokayev told Xi. “Kazakhstan is interested in boosting the export of agricultural products to China,” he said, praising president Xi for his ambitious Belt-and-Road-infrastructure initiative that has boosted transport connectivity.
“Kazakhstan is ready to deliver legumes, high-quality and ecologically clean frozen beef and lamb,” said Kazakh president.
China’s trade with the five Central Asian states has swelled one hundred-fold since the establishment of diplomatic relations three decades ago, after the break-up of Soviet Union. Investment between China and the five nations reached a record high of over $70bn in 2022.
The inaugural China-Central Asia leaders summit was held online in 2022 due to Covid-19.
The choice of Xian as venue for the first in-person summit is a symbolic nod to history as the city remained pivotal in the ancient Silk Road trade route that once spanned Central Asia.
