Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Friday (May 19th) called on his country and Central Asia to "fully exploit" opportunities for cooperation in trade, economy and industrial capacity. Addressing the heads of state of five ex-Soviet republics at an unprecedented summit, Xi urged them to "fully exploit the possibilities of traditional cooperation in economy, trade, industrial capacity, energy and transportation," according to an excerpt of the speech provided by the Xinhua News Agency.
He also stressed the need to develop "new engines of growth (...) such as finance, agriculture, poverty reduction, lower carbon emissions, health and digital innovation." The Chinese president is hosting this week the first edition of a "China-Central Asia summit" since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1992 between the Asian giant and these republics (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan) after the fall of the USSR.
"Maintaining an eternal friendship"
Xi added that the region and China should "take the lead" in this project and "deepen strategic mutual trust" in order to "maintain eternal friendship." He also stressed the need to expand security cooperation to combat what Beijing calls the region's "three evils": separatism, terrorism and extremism.
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The six countries should resolutely oppose external interference in the internal affairs of regional countries and attempts to instigate 'color revolutions,'" Xi added. Intended to strengthen economic and cultural ties with these nations traditionally closer to Moscow than Beijing, this major meeting is organized at a time when Joe Biden meets in Japan with the leaders of the G7.