According to the official website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Communist Party of China, on the 27th, Qin Gang and the foreign ministers of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan held the fourth “China-Five Central Asian Countries” foreign ministers’ meeting in Xi’an, Shaanxi. Qin Gang also held talks with the foreign ministers of the five countries.
After the meeting, the six parties issued a press release saying that all parties coordinated the preparations for the upcoming Xi’an summit and “discussed the content of the summit outcome document.” In addition, all parties decided to continue to cooperate in combating the “three evil forces”, and supported the further improvement of the “China-Central Asia Mechanism” construction, and gradually established corresponding cooperation platforms in key areas; regarding the foreign ministers’ meeting mechanism, it was agreed that China and the five Central Asian countries should For one party, it takes turns to host each year.
Qin Gang called on all countries to jointly build a strong regional security network, “resolutely oppose any force interfering in the internal affairs of regional countries under any pretext, and make Central Asia a pure land of win-win cooperation, rather than a battlefield of geopolitical games.”
After the meeting, Qin Gang said that the summit in May is an “important step taken in the determination to build a closer China-Central Asia community with a shared future, focusing on the future of the six countries and their peoples.”
The summit in May will be the first “China-Central Asia Summit”. At the beginning of last year, there was a “Video Summit for the 30th Anniversary of the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations between China and the Five Central Asian Countries”.
Beijing has long viewed Central Asia as an important frontier for trade expansion, energy security, ethnic stability and military defense, according to the New York Times.
In 2013, the CCP launched the so-called “Belt and Road” initiative, accelerating efforts to expand its influence in Central Asia, building railways, roads and oil and gas pipelines in the region, and expanding educational exchanges.
“These are resource-rich countries with relatively small populations, and if Putin’s grip on them weakens, China (the CCP) will get smart and play by ear,” said the former U.S. trade official and former World Bank Central Asia and China expert. Harry Brodman told The New York Times.
Niva Yau, a senior fellow at the OSCE Academy in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek, told Voice of America: “China has invested at least $20 billion in Kazakhstan’s oil and gas industry. Invested at least $17 billion in Turkmenistan and at least $2 billion in Uzbekistan.”
The New York Times pointed out that the CCP’s courtship to Central Asian countries is partly to gain support for its own interests on the global stage. When Xi Jinping visited Central Asia in September last year, leaders of Central Asian countries pledged to Xi Jinping in Samarkand, Uzbekistan to support Beijing’s territorial claim to Taiwan.
With Western countries uniting to encircle the CCP and resolutely oppose the CCP’s invasion of Taiwan by force, Beijing’s urgency to win over Central Asian countries has naturally increased accordingly. But the New York Times believes that Beijing’s influence appears to be limited.
For example, the report said that one of the core issues of Xi Jinping’s visit to Central Asia last year was to win support from other countries for his tough policies in Xinjiang, but none of the leaders of Central Asian countries joined China in publicly condemning the UN human rights report. Crimes against humanity have been committed in Xinjiang, despite broad references from Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan to support China’s position in the region.
Qiu Zhien was quoted by the report as saying that from this point of view, “China’s visit was a bit of a failure.”
The report pointed out that Central Asia has long been wary of Beijing. For years, the Central Asian country has severely restricted immigration from China, among other measures. These countries are also seeking investment projects from the United States, such as building a train and locomotive factory in the Kazakh capital.
Another survey shows that Beijing’s reputation in Central Asian countries has taken a sharp turn for the worse in recent years. According to data released by the Central Asia Barometer Survey, a large-scale biennial research program, in early May last year, the number of Uzbek people who have a “somewhat favorable opinion” of Beijing has dropped from 70% in the spring of 2018 to 2021. 32% in the fall.
According to a report by Taiwan Central Radio, the growing hostility of people in Central Asian countries to Beijing has had consequences. For example, in January last year, the Kazakh people were dissatisfied with the government. ) riots, Chinese stores became the target of public attacks, and workers of Chinese-funded enterprises went on strike to express their protests.
According to the analysis of the report, one of the reasons for the decline in favorability with Beijing may be related to the CCP’s human rights violations in Xinjiang.