How does the China-Central Asia Summit enhance bilateral connectivity?

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev enjoy performances by Kazakh teenagers inside the VIP lounge at the airport in Astana, Kazakhstan, ahead of the second China-Central Asia Summit, June 16, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]

By Ding Xiaoxing

On June 17, the second China-Central Asia Summit, held in Kazakhstan, received widespread attention. It achieved a series of major milestones, putting forward the "China-Central Asia Spirit," and pointing out the direction for building a China-Central Asia community with a shared future.

Specifically, the results of the summit can be summarized as "four ones."

One mechanism: Established in 2020 based on China's proposal, the China-Central Asia mechanism has the following characteristics: First, the cooperation mechanism is at a senior level. In 2022, it was decided to upgrade to the head of state level, and the first China-Central Asia Summit was held in Xi'an in 2023. Second, there are now permanent institutions. The China-Central Asia Secretariat is fully operational, which means that the consensus reached by the leaders has a mechanism for implementation. Third, the scope of cooperation is wide. The China-Central Asia mechanism has established 13 ministerial meeting mechanisms such as diplomacy, economy and trade, transportation, and education.

One spirit: At the 2025 summit, all parties, based on a comprehensive summary of the successful experience of China-Central Asia cooperation, formed the "China-Central Asia Spirit," which features "mutual respect, mutual trust, mutual benefit, mutual assistance, and the pursuit of common modernization through high-quality development." The summit's declaration further emphasized: "This spirit should be vigorously promoted to make it the basis for the member states of the mechanism to develop friendly relations and promote mutually beneficial cooperation."

One treaty: At this summit, China and the five Central Asian countries signed a treaty of permanent good-neighborliness and friendly cooperation, which reaffirmed the commitment to the purposes of the UN Charter and other universally recognized principles and rules of international law, and reaffirmed their firm support for the independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity, sovereign equality and inviolability of borders of all parties. Chinese President Xi Jinping pointed out that the treaty "enshrines the principle of everlasting friendship in the form of law. This is a new landmark in the history of the relations between our six countries."

Chinese President Xi Jinping, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon, Turkmen President Serdar Berdimuhamedov and Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev witness the inauguration of the China-Central Asia poverty reduction cooperation center, the China-Central Asia education exchange cooperation center, the China-Central Asia desertification control cooperation center and the China-Central Asia trade facilitation cooperation platform in Astana, Kazakhstan, June 17, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]

One path: High-quality joint construction of the Belt and Road Initiative and promoting common modernization with high-quality development are the specific paths to promote the construction of a China-Central Asia community with a shared future. At the summit, all parties clearly identified unimpeded trade, industrial investment, connectivity, green minerals, agricultural modernization, and personnel exchanges as their six priority cooperation directions. All participating countries agreed to designate 2025 and 2026 as the "Year of High-quality Development of China-Central Asia Cooperation" in order to promote high-quality joint construction of the Belt and Road Initiative. China has decided to establish three major cooperation centers for poverty reduction, education exchange, and desertification control, as well as a platform for unimpeded trade cooperation within the framework of China-Central Asia cooperation.

At present, all Central Asian countries are implementing their own medium- and long-term development strategies, with the fundamental goal of achieving national modernization. China is promoting Chinese-style modernization in an all-round way. China and Central Asian countries can further strengthen strategic docking, become fellow travelers on the road to modernization, support each other, and achieve mutual success.

China's relations with Central Asian countries have deep historical roots, extensive practical needs, and a solid public opinion foundation, and are full of vitality and vigor in the new era. Looking to the future, under the strategic guidance of the leaders and the promotion of the China-Central Asia mechanism, China and Central Asian countries will work together, unite and advance together, and jointly write a better future.

Ding Xiaoxing, a special commentator for CGTN, is the Deputy Secretary-General of the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations.