Some media reports say little of substance was achieved during the First China-Central Asia Summit May18-19 meeting that took place in the Chinese city of Xi’an on May 18-19.
The summit marking the 31st anniversary of diplomatic ties between China and the five Central Asia’s nations that traditionally have been within Russia’s sphere of influence reportedly came amid China’s efforts to increase its positions in Central Asia.
China’s state-run news agency Xinhua cited Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang as saying on May 19 that the summit is a new milestone in China-Central Asia relations and “it has written a new chapter in the building of a community with a shared future for humanity.”
Qin said that the summit provides new impetus for deepening China-Central Asia relations.
China announced respectively with Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan the building of a community with a shared future at the bilateral level, Qin said, adding that this is the first time the vision of a community with a shared future has been fully implemented at the multilateral and bilateral levels in a region.
He stated that the summit has built a new platform for expanding exchanges and cooperation in various fields.
However, there were lots of rhetoric about strengthening economic relations and little of substances was achieved at this summit.
Eurasianet says that after the meeting, Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke of China and the Central Asian states fostering “a new paradigm” of “win-win cooperation.” What exactly that new paradigm looks like, however, remains anybody’s guess.
Xi used his speech to reiterate a need for regional states to keep a lid on the “three evils” of terrorism, separatism and extremism, adding that China was ready to enhance cooperation with its western neighbors on law enforcement, internal security and defense.
Some experts consider that one of the few valuable ideas in Chinese leader’s address was an announcement that Chinese companies operating in Central Asia would be “encouraged to create more local jobs.”
To make that happen, President Xi said that China would provide Central Asian countries with roughly US$3.7 billion in assistance, Xinhua reported.
The event participants decided to turn the China-Central Asia summit into a biennial event. Kazakhstan was tapped to host the next meeting in 2025.
