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What defines the future of China -Central Asia relations in an uncertain world?
Chinese President Xi Jinping answered with a new vision, the China -Central Asia spirit.
Welcome to World Today, the panel discussion with Mi Ge 'en in Beijing.
Jin. The second China -Central Asia summit has concluded in Astana, marking a new milestone in regional diplomacy.
In his keynote, President Xi Jinping introduced the China -Central Asia spirit, defined by mutual respect, trust, benefit and assistance, a timely answer to global uncertainty.
A major breakthrough was the signing of a permanent treaty of good neighborliness, friendship, and cooperation by the six nations.
The summit also delivered over 110 cooperation outcomes, including three new centers on poverty reduction, education, and desertification, and a platform for smoother trade.
Six priority areas were set, trade, connectivity, grain minerals, agriculture, investment, and people -to -people ties, with the collaboration expanding into AI and satellite navigation.
So to explore what this means for the region and beyond, we're joined by Jun McKean, Research Fellow at the Center for China and Globalization.
Thanks for joining us.
Thank you for having me.
Dr. Wang Jing, Associate Professor at Northwest University in Xi 'an, China.
Welcome, Professor.
It's my great pleasure.
Dr. Zhao Mi, Senior Research Fellow with the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation.
Great to have you again.
Thank you. Let's start with the big picture.
Dr. Zhao, President Xi just wrapped up his trip to Astana for the second China -Central Asia Summit.
What stood out to you the most during this visit?
Any particular moment or message that really caught your attention?
Yeah, we know this is the third time I think that President Xi has visited another another country this year.
So we know that China and Central Asian countries will have so many important collaborations.
I mean most of these collaboration mechanisms are coming from in the past on the bilateral levels.
So we are going to have a better interactions in this region.
I think it's a really important one because last time we had this one the summit in China.
But this time I think that we are able to go to the Central Asian countries and trying to have a better discussion about what we can do to improve the bilateral trade and investment cooperation and also some of our other areas of interactions.
So this is a really important message we have from this event because we see the world is now facing so many challenges, a lot of uncertainties.
And a lot of countries are trying to think about what can we do to deal with such a kind of uncertainty.
I think that leaders are sending us a very clear message that we can do more by interactions between our two parts and trying to establish a better mechanism to guarantee this cooperation can be sustainable.
So in my understanding, that is not only about the messages.
We can also see there are several important declarations and also include so many different projects.
And many of these projects are just trying to make it into our big basket.
It means understanding not just the single projects.
I believe this kind of cooperation are just trying to improve its stabilities.
Zhu, what's your take?
Were there symbolic gestures or political signals that deserve more attention, in your opinion?
I completely, you know, first of all, resonate with Professor's comments.
We see a holistic, you know, kind of cooperation.
And this has been exponentially, you know, the depth and the breadth of the cooperation between China and Central Asia has been exponentially increasing.
whether you look at the trade patterns, whether you look at the fact that 85 percent of all goods going to Europe from China go through Central Asia.
So China -Central Asia, you know, cooperation has been actually quite significant for anyone who's observing China's growing interest and growing proactivity in the region and beyond.
That said, I mean, I think, first of all, absolutely, the fact that a lot of practical aspects have been specifically covered.
Maybe your listeners would also already know that this is the first time with President Xi's current visit.
This is the first time that all five Central Asian republics have gotten together with all the state leaders in Central Asia with another global leader.
And that first leader is President Xi Jinping.
We know that China -Central Asia cooperation with China -Central Asia spirit being announced, the focus is also on shared humanity, a shared future.
And I think this This is particularly important when you look at the messaging that all countries, President Xi's own address, whether we talk about the bilateral engagements, all of them are focused on trade, investment, connectivity, cooperation, but also the need for positive multilateralism.
All leaders emphasize, especially President Xi, that we want to build our relations and we want to together, you know, stand against forces that want hegemony, that are working against globalization, that are working against the shared future of humanity.
And I think in that sense, you know, China, Central Asia cooperation under this mechanism with the second summit, while it is extremely practical, focused on technical cooperation, education, poverty reduction, desertification, et cetera, it is also not only giving a strong message for positive multilateralism and peace in the world, it is standing as a symbol that can work as a step forward for better unity and positive collaboration and cooperation between countries in the world.
It's a good template for other countries, other regions to follow as well.
A gathering that seeks cooperation rather than confrontation.
Professor Wong, how do you interpret the atmosphere among the leaders this time?
Well, I think it's a very successful summit.
And on the one hand, we look at the achievement of more than 110 agreements that have been signed in different Central Asian countries.
And these agreements cover not only the political spirit for cooperation, spirit cooperation for further trust between China and different saturation countries but also there were some very concrete agreements signed between different ministries of China as well the ministries and departments those different situation countries and also I think it's quite important that if we're looking at these agreements such as these agreements between different so -far friendship cities and friendship provinces would be established this mechanism them being established between for example the chinese hubei
province shangti province xinjiang parliament's region and the other important provinces they will establish the so -called friendship cooperation as friendship city the friendship partnership with the provinces in several centurion countries it's it's very very important because it could become a new mechanism to facilitate people to people exchange to facilitate the other findings between different countries, particularly from the social and the people level.
And also it would be regarded that there are positive, successful fruits that have been achieved between China's central agencies through the multilateral friendship and trust that will be further enhanced.
So that's why it's a good news.
Professor Wang, as you said, the auto -coms are remarkable.
110 cooperation items. That's a huge list of deliverables.
So what do you think made this level of agreement possible?
possible. I think several factors make this happen.
On the one hand, we say that more than ten years, twelve years ago, that China's balance law initiative was first proposed by the Chinese President Xi Jinping in his visits to the Central Asian states.
So that's why it's suggested that China's relations with Central Asian countries should be regarded as the Chinese' very important diplomatic priorities, particularly when we are talking about the cultural factors and the political spots as well, as well as the course economic cooperation this should be regarded as an important priority for china's cooperation with other countries and meanwhile as we just mentioned that two years ago the first session of china's situation summit was out so that's why it is also important that right now that china and saturation countries has a very strong mechanism
for cooperation and this cooperation could further be the motivation for future uh the more cooperation more grim in time in here this time and last up a lot I think that China's sincereness as well as aspiration Central Asian countries for economic development had already been witnessed by at both sides so that's why the two sides China and Central Asian countries now we are willing to further encourage push forward the cooperation with each other so that's why at a very particular time that the both sides China and Central Asian countries could reach such a successful approachable agreement
at this session of the summit indeed Dr. Zhao what's your take on what's driving such a strong momentum in China Central Asia ties well we know that China and the Central Asian countries were neighbors so we are making a lot of friendships based on the investment and trade collaborations and you may know that Central Asia maybe it is the regions which is a forest from the the ocean.
It's at the center of the Euro -Asian continent.
So when you are going to try to trade with the main market in the world, it had to take such a long time or distance to travel to make those cargoes coming from the Central Asian countries to the oceans, and then shipped to the other main markets.
So it has a lot of requirements on the collaboration and the connections with world main markets.
And China has played this kind of a role in the past decades we have built many rules or rails to help those countries to do more businesses well i have to say that they also have some relations with russia european unions so it's playing a very important role in this kind of cooperation well now we are seeing that the world has changed we are seeing that you know no matter united states or european union markets they are changing i mean not dramatically uh just to decrease its demands but actually it's making it more difficult for the central asian countries to do business with them well on the other
hand chinese market is growing if you're looking at the data the consumption in china is continually you know keeping it's a pretty good speed of increase so we are trying to have a much more important position to cooperate with our neighbors of the Central Asian countries.
If we are going to make this trade and development sustainable for the Central Asian countries, and I believe that it's very helpful for them to establish a better mechanism to assure the trade with us.
I think that is the main reason why we are seeing that they are trying to establish a higher level of collaboration.
Well, on the other hand, we are seeing the world is under uncertainty.
uncertainty is coming from the pro -technism.
And some of this distortion of the world rules which is very damaging and not so good for all the stakeholders in the world.
The Central Asian countries are, not all of them are the members of WTO, but they are trying to catch up with the mutual understanding and the multilateral system.
So in this regard, I believe that we are providing much more certainty to the Central Asian countries, especially for the the economies, for the infrastructure, collaboration, and also for the markets.
So the people's sectors, the enterprises of the Central Asian countries can rely on China's sustainability even more than before.
I think that is really a very important time for us to give you some guidelines for the companies to deal with each other and trying to make it a longer term of planning.
How can we cooperate with each other?
Mm -hmm. Jun, what do you think enabled such a wide -ranging set of deliverables this time?
You know, one of the aspects that I think is most significant, of course, you know, there is a historic precedent.
Central Asia is, you know, the heart of Eurasian cooperation in many ways.
We also see that there is a political priority, even prior to the Belt and Road Initiatives announcement.
There was a lot of investment coming from China towards the Central Central Asian republics in pipelines, in railways.
And I think that that has continued.
Central Asia has been central to the Belt and Road vision.
It's also part of the SEO.
But I think one of the most important factors that enables such a tangible way forward for the region is that it has really arrived at an important regional consensus.
All five Central Asian republics are on board with working together with China and they see China as an opportunity, as was mentioned by Dr. Zhou as well and a professor earlier.
It's true that the region has the geostrategic significance.
They have cooperation platforms or mechanisms with the European Union, with Russia.
It is seen as a significant region, but it is really China right now that is, first of all, able to give the Central Asian republics the kind of investment, interest and the kind of opportunities that the countries are looking for.
An example is, you know, look at the talent coming from Central Asian republics towards China right now, whether it's scholarships or young people coming for training courses from relevant ministries to understanding how China has achieved its own development, technical cooperation.
All of this is important capacity building for a region that has a very young population, a very dynamic population.
And today at 80 million, 2050 Central Asian republics will have a population of 120 million.
So it's an increasing population that is currently the way those republics see.
My understanding, they see China as a country that is investing in the present and the future of that region.
So I think that that's one of the reasons you you see this kind of synergy that the entire, all five republics are on board and they want to further enhance the capacity of this mechanism itself.
So, we know that this is the only platform, even though all five republics have dialogue and cooperation with other powers, which China is the only one that they have a secretariat.
They see China as a country that's helping them become more innovative, achieve their domestic or regional visions as well, help them arrive at better plans for the region at large.
That synergy within the region also plays a very important role.
Indeed. Behind this lies the long -standing deep political trust between China and the Central Asia countries and their complementary economic structures and a shared vision for development, as Zun has just pointed out.
So, Professor Wang, China will host the next summit in 2027.
What's the basis for such regular exchanges at a time?
When the world is faced with confrontation and division, what makes this partnership a source of stability?
I think it's because of several factors.
First of all, it's a very trust, or the sacred willingness to establish trust between different countries.
For example, when we are looking at what kind of, for example, China's diplomacy with the very strong differences of other major powers, one of the very important features is that China does not want to intervene in the internal affairs of the other countries.
And also China respects the other countries based upon a very equal and just status with each other.
So that's why I think there's kind of a very strong sense of establishing that the peer friendship with other countries could be noticed by situation countries and could be felt.
out and secondly i think the situation countries also hopefully establish the kind of the more close ties with china to seek new opportunities because we know that always there were a lot a lot of talks about okay central country they should maybe explore more closer ties with russia or they should maybe divide us from multiple ties with the united states but actually i think during the last year last several years we have already witnessed it's very clearly that the central king is now supposed to become more and more independent and they have their own independent history they have their own
independent culture they they hope to explore the cultures that are different from other parts of the world and other circles of the culture so that's why i think china has become the important or even a prioritized choice for them to establish the new cooperation mechanism and the cooperative opportunity so that's why i think it gets the inspector up now we're facing a very important at the time and the crucial moment that new possibilities could be appropriating to be to explore and when the two sides they they find new mechanism under the so far van of world initiative they could find their
two friends and also the china and the situation states we realized the potential for the other side to develop the further a closer relations with each other so that's why the first session of the china situation summit was established and also So, during the past more than a decade, so many achievements have been realized.
And during this session of the summit, China Central Asian Summit, so many agreements have been signed.
So, that's why it's a very, very positive sign.
It's an important achievement.
And that is the force of being free to abide the world.
Dr. Zhou, do you share the same stance?
How does the China Central Asian mechanism differ from those established by other major of power in the region.
Yeah I agree with Professor Wong's message.
I think that it's important to understand that a relation between our two parts are based on the market demands.
So maybe there are a lot of different considerations from the political side, from the international relations side.
But from China and the Central Asian side, I think that we are based on the market, the companies, I mean the sectors, the people that really need us to have a better collaboration.
We can find that in the previous decade, we are suffering a lot from different kinds of impacts from the disease, from the covid, from the financial disasters, a lot of disruptions on the supply chains, which make it very difficult for the countries to try to have a sustainable and stable development.
But China is providing a very stable predictability.
I think that is the main reason why many countries want to export more things to China because we have a very sustainable market.
But on the other hand, we can find that many Chinese companies have already started to invest in other countries, which they are not just trying to get the resources over those places, but also trying to use their technology to teach the people, to employ those people and train those people, which is a very important, I mean, the effect of the spillover for the technology.
And based on this kind of collaboration, many countries are developing their industrial industries, especially in the manufacturing.
So the demands from the market are really the key issues for us to believe that collaboration with China is nothing to do with, you know, something to do with the political consideration or internal fears, years into wings, I think that is a really important message that many parts want to better on the closer relation with China.
On the other hand, I want to say that China is always not just trying to do some one -way interaction.
We are doing something from the two ways.
So we welcome the investment from the Central Asian countries, I mean, from those companies to come here, to enjoy China's development by investing here with Chinese people.
so I think that's already a very important why because if you are looking at many other especially the major economies they are trying to stop their commitments and close their doors trying to not let other people to go into their markets and trying to you know do a lot of awards around their borders so for Chinese markets that really are kind of a very potential development for so many other countries.
I think that is also one area that we have included in these declarations and some of the programs by the two sides, that we want to have more people to people exchanging about education, about how can we you know do more knowledge and also the technology improvement and even the innovations.
As you said, this mechanism is a practical demonstration of multilateralism and mutual benefit.
Speaking of that, one of the biggest highlights from this year's summit was President Xi's announcement of the China -Central Asia Spirit, built on mutual respect, trust, benefit, and assistance, and guided by the goal of achieving modernization through high -quality development.
Foreign Minister Wang Yi noted this spirit was forged through long -term practical cooperation.
So, Zun, in what ways has this spirit been reflected affected in past cooperation between China and Central Asia.
Are there any specific examples you can share?
I'll resonate with what our panelists previously said.
I think it connects with the announcement and the legacy of what we now are going to call this China Central Asia spirit.
China is firstly and obviously seen as an opportunity, a dynamic economy, a dynamic country that is interested in building lasting partnerships around the world, especially in the region.
And therefore, you know, China is seen as a very stable, long term committed partner for the Central Asian Republic.
I think that is one important factor.
And it consistently, you know, for the past three decades, pretty much. Then China is a very respectful country towards its neighbors.
We know that, you know, the five principles of peaceful coexistence are the hallmark of Chinese foreign policy.
This is the premise under which China is pursuing its partnerships.
And whereas absolutely, you know, economic factors, the receptivity of Chinese businesses towards Central Asia and vice versa, the demands are defining the exact contours of the economic relations and future of this partnership.
It is also the fact that China is, when it comes to investments, when it comes to government -to -government cooperation, China is very much in sync with what the republics themselves want for themselves.
you know, whether it's domestic plans.
We know that the BRI and other, you know, initiatives by China in the region have been completely in synchrony with the local initiatives.
And that kind of respect is very important when it comes to relations, lasting partnerships.
If we look at specific examples, I think the fact that we see so much investment that China has made in the region have been beneficial to the region.
Look at the examples of Luban workshops, other education partnerships, which are actually helping people to people, cultural exchanges.
You look at how young people from China and from Central Asian republics are looking towards each other to start their businesses, to get a better education, to improve opportunities for themselves.
That's really an example of the holistic nature of this partnership.
When it comes to the cultural ties.
Both sides have been very welcoming to each other.
So this is a very important aspect of long -term relations.
In the end, you know, the government priorities are very important.
The respect governments give each other is very essential.
That friendship is very important.
But that has to translate towards businesses and people and culture.
And I think that's really the future of cooperation, whether it's China, Central Asia, whether it's other parts of the world.
Thanks panelists. Still ahead, what's driving the next chapter of China -Central Asia relations?
This is World Today.
Stay with us. Welcome back to World Today.
I'm your host, Ge 'ana.
We've been discussing what defines the the future of China -Central Asia relations in an uncertain world, let's dive back in.
Professor Wong, how do you interpret the China -Central Asia spirit in today's context?
When we're talking about multilateral or bilateral spirit, it is usually the big thing.
It means that everybody in this mechanism or everybody in this kind of so -called organization or the framework, they agree on some kind of very important psychological thinking thinking ways of how to handle well with each other and how to manage the crisis and how to develop the future so that's why we're talking about so -called spirits it's very personal because we know that for example that the two or three years ago that China and other saturation countries as well as that many other member states of Shanghai Corporation organization we have the so -called sunshine spirits which is also important
spirits that according for And they're calling for p's, they're calling for cooperation, calling for multilateral respect and equality.
It's very crucial, and they have the very important way for further development of this mechanism.
And now we have the new China saturation spirit.
It's very, very crucial.
And on the one hand, this the answer that China saturation state has already shared very important consensus on a multilateral or the bilateral relations with each other.
And on the other hand, they also suggested that more potentials could be developed, because because when we're talking about spirits, he suggested that we trust each other, and we hope that the trust will be continued and maintained further in the future.
It is a very, very positive news which breaks through meaningfulness.
So let's be frank when I see what happens after this summit or during the summit.
I think one of the most important or one of the most meaningful things that our achievement has to be realized is that the spirit has been spoken out, which is very, very crucial.
show. Dr. Zhou, what's your assessment on this?
In what ways have values under this spirit already been demonstrated in past projects?
Well, yeah, I think that the spirit really means that we have some consensus as experts have already expressed.
But I want also to add two more points.
The first one is that we know China is a developing country, so we have a benefit allowed by our experiences for instance, in the urbanization and the industrialization.
And we always want to share our experiences with our partners.
So this implies that we want to share what we already have with our friends.
I think that is a really important thing because it's not only about something to do with economic benefits.
It's about how can we just try to understand the situation and how can we try to have a better support on some of the weaker part of these different countries and even the regions.
We want to share with our friends that we are already ready to help them by more infrastructure, kind of logistics, collaborations and more things in this regard. And the second point I want to say is that China is never, China has never tried to put ourselves at a central position.
So in this kind of collaboration between China and the Central Asian countries, we are equal for any parts of these regions.
of the regions. So we also want to hear more from the Central Asian countries.
If they have more suggestions and more willingness on what kind of areas they want to cooperate with us.
I think the experience has provided a very open platform for both sides to discuss about the possibilities and the feasibilities for better collaboration in different ways.
So in this regard, I think that experience has already shown us that, you know, some Some of the countries of the Central Asia, like the Qatar -Hampton, are very rich in the resources and are very good at those things, but for other countries like Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, they really are good at agriculture, but not so good in many other energy resources or other issues.
So we can try to be more complimentary collaboration based on this scenarios.
We are able to put it in a better position organization to cooperate with each other.
I think that's central Asia areas, although they have a very large relations or collaboration among these areas, but there is no such kind of a mechanism to guarantee the integration in this region like ASEAN or other areas.
So for this cooperation for this spirit, I think that is helpful for us to know more about each other.
And maybe it is helpful for us to have a better integration based Based on this knowledge about each other and trying to consider about what we can do to improve the integration in this region.
Dr. Zhou, with this spirit, three new cooperation centers and a trade facilitation platform were announced covering poverty reduction, education and desertification.
So from your perspective, how will this help drive shared development across the region and what kind of impact do you expect to see?
Well, as you mentioned, these three mechanisms are very essential because for both parts, we want to address the challenges like China has achieved to reduce all the poverties at the end of 2020.
I think it's really an achievement that the world has seen.
So many countries, including Central Asia, want to learn from us and want to also reduce its poverty in this regard. But how can we deal with that?
I think that the three mechanisms no matter from some kind of the projects, corporations or the educational, they are really trying to address the challenges, and most essential challenges that we are facing.
And in this regard, I think that we have also accumulated some of the experience like in Xinjiang and Gansu.
we have already realized some kind of development based on not just the kind of development from the industries, but also trying to use energy transition from the fossil fuels to the renewable energies to provide better protection and better abilities to deal with the jobs and and it provides a lot of, you know, the certifications, experience.
I think there's under these three mechanisms, we can try to improve that all.
But I, in my understanding, it's not, it's not just the unilaterally because even for China, we are not able to deal with all the different situations and conditions.
So, we have better, you know, two -way communications with our partners to learn from them on the, you know, not about the targets, but also about the resources that we are having, and also about how can we achieve these targets.
So, by these mechanisms, I think it's a hub for both sides.
We can also learn more on how can we deal with the situation in different ways and we also are able to improve our abilities in the Belt and Road regions and how can we have a better exchange on the culture.
So these three mechanisms are what both sides really want and we both will benefit from that.
Jun, I want to get your perspective on this.
How do you view these hubs for poverty reduction, education, and desertification control support, inclusive development in the region?
Firstly, I think poverty reduction has become one of the most sought -after achievements or whatever in the developing countries, among developing countries, in the Belt and Road region, since, again, at the end of 2020, especially when China was able to eradicate an absolute poverty.
And that achievement in itself will take, you know, for other countries to understand how China was able to do it.
It was a very multi -pronged approach. If you go look at those regions, I think it takes a lot of understanding that a lot of these solutions were very domestically driven.
Local communities were able to find solutions.
And in that sense, when we say all these three mechanisms, they are going going to together allow both sides to understand what are the precise solutions that the Central Asian regions can employ, what kind of trainings they need to conduct for their people, what case studies within China they can study in order to understand for specific parts of their regions what the solutions are.
When we talk about, you know, the China -Central Asia spirit, which is really a philosophical synchrony on both sides, that we are on the same page and let's explore together.
And at the same time, this very meeting, you know, this three -day visit has resulted in the most close to the ground practical cooperations between China and the republics.
This shows the breadth of China's cooperation with the region.
It also shows in a matter of just a decade or so, the perspective of developing countries has completely changed.
I think 15 years ago, if people were studying developing economics or poverty, et cetera, they were not studying the kind of value creation that China has practically exhibited through its own development.
And I think, you know, the fact that this is a priority in the partnership between China and Central Asia, it shows, it demonstrates how far our collective understanding of poverty reduction has come.
It also shows that the SDGs are not just, you know, far away, they're quite achievable.
What we need to do is practically look at the communities that have been able to achieve it and understand that the solutions are going to require very targeted approaches.
They're going to require a skill, critical thinking, which is going to be a priority in these mechanisms. I think, you know, this shows really how close to the ground, how progressive and how practical is is also the partnership between both sides.
And this can benefit, it can create jobs, help young people from Central Asia, universities, experts, etc., come together to understand how to have a more sustainable way forward, whether it's poverty alleviation or agriculture, just to name a few.
Professor Wong, the summit also set out six priority areas for future cooperation, trade facilitation, industrial investment, connectivity, green minerals, growth, agricultural modernization and people -to -people exchanges.
How will these priorities work in tandem with the newly announced cooperation centers we just mentioned?
I think when we're talking about six directions, like many other cooperation or partnerships between China and other regions, for example China and the Arab States, China and the South Asian states, we have different directions and these directions were designed according according to the different characteristics of the company, the partners, as well as the possible achievement that could be realized in the future between the cooperation mechanism between China and Central Asian countries.
I think there were many factors that these separate directions are very highly cherished as well.
They were highly expected by China and Central Asian countries.
For example, China has a non -resource for example, to develop their agriculture a new strategy with the policies, upgrade the education systems, and under these kinds of merits, and these merits are highly needed by saturation countries, and many of the saturation companies get received the assistance from China, the aid from China in these areas.
So that's why I think it is very easy and convenient for this country to establish the trust over these six directions for cooperation with China.
And on the other hand, let's say that there were very important directions through people -to -people exchange, this should be highly important, because we're talking about the foundation for different states.
Political foundation, the leadership, partnership, friendship are very crucial, that's for sure.
But I think the very important thing is that we would have much longer terms of way of production of mutual costs that should be regarded as the people -to -people exchange.
Because it has been a solid foundation for the very important social atmosphere for further cooperation between different people in different nations.
And the people -to -people exchange would play the very social role.
speaking of six priority areas for future cooperation Dr. Zhou this is your area of expertise what tangible new dynamics might emerge and how will they positively shape the region okay so I agree with the professor one different country has different directions or targets like if you are looking at Qatar has recently raised a concept of to build a road of brightness, I think that for my understanding of the meaning of the road of brightness means that maybe two levels.
The first one is that the countries can be supported by the energy, by its energy advantages that all the countries, countrysides, villages and even the remote districts can have no problem with the electricity or energy supply.
But even the higher level, you might understand it is a symbol of prosperity, so the brightness means that the people will have a very good life and they can make a living easily and with a lot of support on the places.
So for China, I think that's the Belt and Road Initiative is trying to connecting with Carter -Hansen, and it's a target of doing that.
But maybe in a not a traditional ways we are helping that Chinese companies like in the new energy vehicles were some of the solar panels other new energy producers to cooperate with our partners they are having you know also trying to cope in ways for the heistand and their green mining and also trying to help them to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions and also trying to be proper for for them to to deal with climate change?
Well, you know, the use of the new energy vehicles are also spread in these Central Asian countries.
I think that's a really good example.
But if you look at Georgia, they have many differences about the energies in the North and in the South, they are quite different.
So the better way for us to deal with that is to build a very effective and efficient national grid to sense the electricity and China's companies are really good at doing that so I think these are just the two examples but it gave me us some of these ideas are about how can we try to reach our target of the development like we know that Chinese companies are really are good at you know trying to do something new like for the artificial intelligence as white examples many Chinese companies are not just trying to you know to use the support of the deep geopsych and they are also trying to do more
about the application development they are providing the solutions for you know a package of improvements in these new areas they are trying to change the modes of doing businesses and in the manufacturing process so in this regard i think that for both sides china and the central asia countries we can try to to define what kind of the you know the priorities for the next five years or even 10 years 15 years and trying to make a better and more stable environment like the policy environment like to build some kind of the you know the industrial zones as for the industrial zones i think that i
have to mention that many chinese companies have already done something some of the industrial zones in this uh you know the central Central Asian country, maybe not all of them are the manufacturing, some of them are doing the agricultural parks in those regions.
They are trying to create a little bit, I would not say a micro level, but maybe central level of stable environment for the companies to do their things together.
I think it's really helpful for us to give very clear signals and expectations to the market and trying to meet those developments.
so innovation are always you know what we want to for all the countries in the world but we have to deal with also the problems about the transition period how can we deal with you know the problem of employment so in this regard I think I think that's the three programs that we have to cut discussed about education we can trying to also to educate the people to train them with the better skills to to fit for the future industries or some new industries, trying to let them know more about these skills.
And it's very helpful for them to also engage the process of transition from the traditional one to the new ones.
Dr. Zhou, on the tech front, there were exciting developments too, like agreements on AI and the Beidou satellite system.
How do you see this shaping China and Central Asia's role in the global tech supply chain?
We know China itself is facing tech oppressions from Washington.
So how do these partnerships enhance China and Central Asia's position in the global tech sector?
Yeah, it's in my understanding that we cannot just rely on, you know, one market.
The relation between China and the United States is important, but we have to also think about the possibilities.
I mean, it's a combination between the profits and the risks.
We have to balance these kind of ideas.
I think that there are still so many are very large room in the cooperation with our trading partners.
That is what we have witnessed in the past decade like the Belt and Road Initiative has created such a high increase on the trade and investment compared with the rest of the world.
In my understanding that we can do more to cooperate with our Central Asia countries.
It's not only just trying to improve their abilities on the development but also to increase their their market, to trying to improve their market conceptions and also the demand from the industrial side.
So the intermediate products, the auto parts and so many things that are possible for us to deal with collaboration.
So I think that is really helpful for us to try to have a more stable mechanism to assure that the cooperation can continue, maybe in a different way, but we still have so many thing to improve I think there will benefit both sides of us soon we know many of the Central Asian countries have their own big national development plans like Kazakhstan's bright path and Uzbekistan's new Uzbekistan how can this align more closely with the belt and road initiative also including those new agreements achieved during this summit to create a greater synergy in the region you know one of the things that making
this the meeting between china and central asian republics by establishing the mechanism the secretariat ensuring that both sides can meet on a regular basis it also ensures that there is a constant reflection constant understanding dialogue further maybe enhancement of these domestic domestic plans also based on what opportunities are available for them.
So I think the fact that the Belt and Road Initiative has firstly always been a proposal for development, which has then interacted with the domestic requirements, and in some, in many cases, the domestic existing plans of those partner countries, and then created something that both sides, that works for both sides, and in particular, the partner country where the infrastructure, where the investment of the proposed plans is going to be based.
So this has always been, I mean, whether we think about when in 2013, the BRI was announced, if we also go prior to that, the kind of investments that China was making in Central Asian countries and other parts of the world were always aligned with domestic visions.
In many cases, those visions have been very solid.
And this is also the case for Pakistan, China, Pakistan Economic Corridor was also So, a combination of, you know, China's proposals, Pakistan's own vision, and that's how both sides have continued to cooperate.
So, I think if, when countries that are partner countries with China, you know, they have a solid vision, they have already done their research, they have a certain expertise and an existing direction, actually, that makes their partnership with China, their cooperation operation much more faster, at least we can say that.
The speed with which, you know, then the outcomes can be implemented is faster, because both sides are very much aligned and the country fully understands the direction it wants to go into.
So with the mechanism established, these individual plans, like you mentioned, Kazakhstan's bright path, Uzbekistan's new Uzbekistan, and maybe other Central Asian countries will also have similar plans, they will come together to be further refined or maybe deviate slightly to accommodate bigger, greater interests of the entire region.
And this is completely, you know, what the Belt and Road vision is all about.
Professor Wan, how can this, what we have mentioned earlier, be effectively aligned with Belt and Road initiative, you know, to maximize mutual benefit and complement?
Because we're talking about the cooperation is always mutual benefit.
official example as professor and zoom mentioned that technology over the agriculture now transferred into the situation campaign on the fourth six directions the over possibility for the fruits and the greens in the saturation countries the numbers will grow and the quality will upgrade it of course that will be for sure but also on the other hand it also keeps the motivation for chinese example experts as well as the pro -talk experts first from the accentuation country we would gain new experiences because we're talking about the technology how to design them is one thing but then how to implement
it and how can we reconsider and reflect the effects of these technologies and experience is another thing so that's why it also will make the technologies and these agricultural experiences are further upgraded and further improved by according to this reality so that's why i think it's it's kind of a fact It's a very small example of this kind of cooperation will benefit both of us, because when we're talking about the assistance or cooperation, it does not mean that one side gives resources, money, experience, and technologies to the other side without any gain.
is actually, finally, this kind of positive circle could be established that some contributions should be made, but then some positive gains should also be achieved by the divers.
This would be the very positive and healthy circle for the bilateral and multilateral development, rather than one -side contribution, one -side assistance, which finally will harm everybody.
Professor Wan, you are a leading expert on Afghanistan issues.
issues. The summit also made a point of addressing Afghanistan, calling for peace, infrastructure rebuilding and integration into the regional economy.
Why would this spotlight it and how does Afghanistan's future tie into the China -Central Asia vision?
Afghanistan is a very co -shared vision or co -shared issue for not only China but also for Central Asian countries because actually the borders, the internal sustainability, the internal security, internal stability flexibility, has close ties with what's happening in Afghanistan, and also has very strong ties with what happened inside Afghanistan.
And also if we're looking at what happened, for example, in Afghanistan.
I think Afghanistan's new government, under the leadership of the Taliban, now they have the very strong willingness and the interest to join the original framework and the original mechanism, and then to share the further growth and the developments, and to share the opportunity for the development in the future with China and situation countries.
So that's why I guess in respect of us saying both China and Central Asian countries realize the importance and the urgencies for the Afghanistan issue in the hopes to explore new opportunities to the chances to maybe coordinated within charge of the census over Afghanistan and see whether or not it is possible to further create a more healthy and a positive environment for the Afghanistan economic, social developments.
So that's why it's well set up and a very solid foundation for the decrease of extremism and the dangerous factors that in this region.
So that's why I think Afghanistan has the willingness.
And such kind of socializing countries also have the shared deal and shared willingness to do this.
So that's why we say this is new, and we hope that maybe more coordinating multinational activities would be pushed forward. Ziyun, you are also an expert on this.
Why was Afghanistan's development specifically addressed in your opinion, and how does it relate to the broader regional vision shared by China and Central Asia?
You know, we often say that, you know, Central Asia is the heart of Eurasian connectivity, but within this, you know, Afghanistan is also the heart of the broader Central Asian region.
Whether we talk about the fact that there is absolute, you know, proximity, whether we look at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, where Central Asia and South Asia we strive to connect through different projects, but that's only possible with safe, with a stable Afghanistan.
The entire region is affected by the current situation.
I think, you know, in the past month and a half, we actually have seen promising developments.
We had the trilateral foreign ministerial dialogue between, you know, China, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, where there was positive outcomes.
I think that these are steps forward. China is is the country that has the capacity, the interest to invest in the region, including Afghanistan.
So if we want to look at the current situation where Central Asian republics, individually seen as not very big countries, but together, they have come together to create a situation where they have regional synergy, that very synergy can become exponential if there is a stable, peaceful Afghanistan that is on board and that extends the connectivity vision from east to west to north to south.
That can actually imagine if the China -Pakistan Economic Corridor connects through Afghanistan to Central Asia, that can open a lot of opportunities to the Central Asian region to have access to warm waters in the south and to other parts of the world.
So, definitely, Afghanistan's stability, all of that is vital to be able to unleash, you know, the region's potential.
And it's good that it was mentioned because we are, again, talking about a long -term vision between China and Central Asia.
And that long -term vision includes a lot of, you know, cooperation agreements, a lot of practical agreements we've already discussed.
us, but it also includes that spirit, that vision of a peaceful world, of a fair world, of a world where we want lasting solutions to the kinds of challenges that we have faced, that Afghanistan also faces today.
So I think China and Central Asia are partners in at least moving towards peace and lasting solutions, and therefore eventually connectivity, people -to -people connections in the Central Asia plus region, if we can call it that.
Thanks. That was a really enlightening discussion.
Thanks to all of our panelists.
Zuna Metkan, Research Fellow at the Center for China and Globalization.
Dr. Wang Jin, Associate Professor at Northwest University in Xi 'an, China.
Dr. Zhou Mi, Senior Research Fellow with the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation.
That's all the time we have for this edition of Road Today.
I'm your host, Ge 'anna.
Thank you so much for listening.
Bye for now.
