Berk Kutay Gokmen
17 June 2025•Update: 17 June 2025
ISTANBUL
China’s President Xi Jinping on Tuesday called for a “security framework for peace, tranquility, and solidarity” between China and Central Asian nations to maintain friendship and cooperation.
Xi made the remarks during the second China-Central Asia Summit held in Astana, Kazakhstan's capital, according to a statement by the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
China and Central Asian nations have forged ties of “mutual respect, mutual trust, mutual benefit, and mutual assistance for the joint pursuit of modernization through high-quality development,” he said.
Xi said the two sides should “practice mutual respect, deepen mutual trust, pursue mutual benefit, and help each other in time of need.”
“We should stay committed to our fundamental goal of unity and always trust and support each other,” the Chinese president said, calling for friendly relations based on equality and sincerity.
“We should optimize our cooperation framework to make it more results-oriented, more efficient, and more deeply integrated,” he said, calling for closer cooperation in the fields of industrial investment, green mining, and agricultural modernization.
“We should develop a security framework for peace, tranquility, and solidarity,” Xi told counterparts from five Central Asian nations.
Advocating a strengthened law enforcement and security collaboration, he said: “We should cement the bonds of shared vision, mutual understanding, and mutual affection between our peoples,” he added, calling for enhanced cultural cooperation.
“We should uphold a fair and equitable international order and an equal and orderly world structure,” the president said, emphasizing a multipolar and just world free of hegemony.
The China–Central Asia Summit is a diplomatic gathering involving the leaders of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
The inaugural summit was held in 2023 in Xi'an, China's Shaanxi province.
China is set to host the third summit in 2027.
Official statistics show the cumulative trade between China and the five Central Asian nations has grown significantly, increasing from 312.04 billion yuan (approximately $43.69 billion) in 2013 to 674.15 billion yuan (about $94.38 billion) in 2024.
To boost the cooperation framework between the two sides, the Chinese president announced that Beijing will establish several centers and a trade facilitation platform, including a carbon reduction cooperation center, an education exchange center, a desertification control center, and a platform to promote trade facilitation.
