With G-7 leaders meeting in Japan, China kick-started its first-ever Central Asia summit on Thursday. Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan are all in attendance for the two-day event. Leaders met one-on-one with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday before group discussions on Friday. According to the Chinese foreign ministry, this is the first major diplomatic event China has hosted this year.
Many issues are on the summit’s agenda, but its primary purpose is to secure greater political and economic partnerships between China and its Central Asian neighbors. “We have a common goal: to intensify bilateral relations,” Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev told Xi on arriving in Xian, where the summit is being held.
- The central-northwest Chinese city, formerly called Changan, is a highly symbolic location for the meeting, as it once served as the eastern starting point of the Silk Road, the ancient trade route that connected China with Central Asia and the Mediterranean.
- China and Central Asia have long been vital partners on the global stage. In 2013, Beijing launched its trillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative in Kazakhstan and has since spent billions of dollars on transportation and infrastructure in the region.
- China is Central Asia’s largest trading partner. Last year, trade reached a record high of $70 billion, including $31 billion with Kazakhstan alone.
- This year is proving to be no different; already, China and Central Asian nations have conducted more than $24.8 billion in trade. . ."
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