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Source: People's Republic of China – State Council News
Beijing, December 29 (Xinhua) — Following the successful holding of the second China-Central Asia Summit in 2025, cooperation between China and the five Central Asian countries (CA) in various fields continues to deepen. Based on the joint promotion of high-quality cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative, the parties are steadily strengthening political mutual trust, achieving breakthrough progress in strengthening trade and economic connectivity, and intensifying people-to-people and cultural exchanges. Mutually beneficial cooperation between the parties has entered a stage of high-quality development, and they are jointly building a closer community with a shared future for China and CA.
POLITICAL MUTUAL TRUST HAS TAKEN STRATEGIC INTERACTION TO NEW HEIGHTS
In 2025, under the stable leadership of state leaders, political relations between China and the Central Asian countries entered a new phase of development with more sophisticated mechanisms, richer content, and closer alignment of strategies.
In June of this year, the second China-Central Asia Summit was successfully held in Kazakhstan. At the summit, the leaders decided to declare 2025-2026 the Years of High-Quality Development of China-Central Asia Cooperation. The summit also endorsed the "China-Central Asia Spirit," characterized by mutual respect, mutual trust, mutual benefit, mutual assistance, and the promotion of joint modernization through high-quality development. The "China-Central Asia Spirit" revealed the secret to the successful development of friendly relations between China and the countries of the region and set fundamental guidelines for future cooperation between the parties.
In the five years since the establishment of the China-Central Asia cooperation mechanism, its multidimensional and pluralistic structure has rapidly developed, characterized by the leadership of heads of state, promotion by governments, participation of all sectors of society, parallel development in various areas, and comprehensive incentives. Thirteen cooperation platforms at the ministerial level and the mechanism's permanent secretariat are effectively functioning.
High-level contacts and strategic dialogue are also deepening. The leaders of China and the five Central Asian countries maintain close strategic communication through exchanges of visits and multilateral summits (the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit, the China-Central Asia summit), and other channels. The parties have reached broad consensus on regional and international issues of mutual interest, unanimously advocating for support for the international system with the UN at its core, practicing genuine multilateralism, and opposing any form of cold war or bloc confrontation.
"Strong mutual support on issues of core interests is an integral part of the community with a shared future between China and Central Asia. China is ready to be a staunch supporter and defender of peace, stability, and development in Central Asia, oppose interference in the internal affairs of countries in the region, and will not allow anyone to provoke division and unrest," Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in a media interview on November 23 following his visit to Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan.
The Central Asian countries, for their part, firmly adhere to the one-China principle and support Beijing's position on issues concerning its core interests. This strategic mutual trust, based on mutual support on key fundamental issues, forms the political foundation for the stable and long-term development of bilateral relations.
TRADE, ECONOMIC AND INVESTMENT COOPERATION IS DEVELOPING IN PARALLEL
The political leadership of China and the Central Asian countries provides a reliable guarantee for cooperation between the parties in trade, economic, and investment areas.
On April 29, 2025, construction work officially began in Kyrgyzstan on one of the key sections of the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan international railway: drilling of the Fergana Tunnel. This marked the transition of this landmark project to the active construction phase. According to World Bank estimates, once operational, this railway will shorten the freight travel time from China to Europe by 900 km, saving 7-8 days. It is expected to stimulate annual GDP growth in the region by 2-3%.
This year, China and the Central Asian countries have made significant progress in interconnecting their road transport infrastructure. On June 13, Kyrgyzstan officially launched the reconstruction of a 75-kilometer section of the Barskoon-Karakol highway, which runs along the southern shore of Lake Issyk-Kul. On June 25, Tajikistan launched a pilot operation of a key section of the second phase of the China-Tajikistan highway project, implemented with grant assistance from the Chinese government. In August, construction began on the 125-kilometer Barskoon-Bedel highway in Kyrgyzstan, which will become a transport artery connecting Central Asia and China. The modernization and construction of key highways has further improved the ease of transportation in the region.
In the past year, trade and economic cooperation between China and Central Asia has advanced, amid a historic breakthrough in "infrastructure connectivity," alongside the development of "institutional connectivity" and cooperation in trade and investment, putting regional economic integration on an accelerated trajectory.
This year, trade between China and Central Asia continued to grow, and China became Central Asia's largest trading partner. In the first three quarters of the year, bilateral trade turnover between China and five countries in the region approached USD 80 billion, an increase of 15.6 percent compared to the same period last year. The annual figure is expected to exceed USD 100 billion. The trade structure is constantly being optimized, and more and more high-quality products from Central Asia are entering the Chinese market. In particular, high-quality, organic food products from Central Asia are quickly gaining widespread recognition among Chinese consumers.
China's investment in Central Asia continues to grow, and China has already become the primary source of investment for the region. To date, China's total investment in Central Asian countries has exceeded USD 50 billion. Cooperation continues to strengthen in traditional areas such as agriculture, energy, and infrastructure, while cooperation in new areas such as 5G, new energy, and AI is also expanding.
HUMANITARIAN EXCHANGES HAVE BECOME UNPRECEDENTEDLY ACTIVE
In 2025, people-to-people exchanges between China and Central Asian countries reached an unprecedented level of activity, driven by both official initiatives and popular enthusiasm. This dynamic interaction laid a solid and sustainable foundation for the long-term development of bilateral relations.
Education is the foundation of humanitarian exchanges. This past year, the number of Central Asian students studying in China continued to grow. Their choice of majors expanded from languages, literature, and history to include natural and technical sciences, medicine, economics, trade, and agriculture. At the same time, the number of Chinese students traveling to Central Asian countries is also growing. Confucius Institutes and Classrooms continue to develop steadily throughout Central Asia, expanding their functions from language instruction to creating comprehensive platforms for cultural exchange.
Tourist exchanges are rapidly recovering and growing. With improved cross-border travel conditions, visa facilitation measures, and mutual tourism promotion, the tourism market in China and Central Asian countries experienced explosive growth in 2025. Data show that in the first three quarters of this year, the number of citizens from the five Central Asian countries entering China increased by 37.7 percent year-on-year, while the number of mainland Chinese traveling to Central Asia increased by 50 percent. The increasingly intensified tourist exchanges between China and Central Asian countries further strengthen the friendship between the peoples.
Currently, the number of direct flights between China and Central Asian countries exceeds 100 per week, and the number of sister city pairs has reached 100. Chinese cultural centers, Confucius Institutes, and Lu Ban Workshops are very popular in the region, playing a vital role in strengthening friendship and promoting cooperation. In his keynote speech at the second China-Central Asia Summit, Chinese President Xi Jinping noted China's readiness to establish more Chinese cultural centers, branches of Chinese universities, and Lu Ban Workshops in Central Asia, to open courses in Central Asian languages at Chinese universities, and to continue the successful implementation of the China-Central Asia Technical Skills Enhancement Program for training specialists from Central Asian countries.
"The Chinese side supports the deepening of interregional cooperation between China and the Central Asian countries, using sister cities as a bridge and humanitarian exchanges as a key tool, jointly forming a model of 'interconnectedness that brings people together' between central and local authorities, in the context of formal and informal contacts, both in the border region and across the wider region," he noted.
Chinese wisdom says, "Live in love and harmony." "With universal love, there will be mutual benefit." The peoples of Central Asia have a similar wisdom: "Harmony and unity are happiness and wealth."
The encounter of ancient civilizations always sparks a new dawn, illuminating the path to the future. Summarizing the results of mutually beneficial cooperation between China and the Central Asian countries, there is every reason to call the current year successful, opening up prospects for further collaboration for the sake of high-quality development.
Let's have high hopes for the coming year!
As Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi noted, "2026 will mark the start of China's 15th Five-Year Plan. China will seize this opportunity to work with Central Asian countries to expand areas of cooperation, enrich its content, improve the quality and effectiveness of cooperation, unlock its potential, be companions on the path to modernization, and open up new horizons for high-quality cooperation between China and Central Asia, creating a closer community with a shared future for China and Central Asia."
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