At the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping, Tajikistan's President Emomali Rahmon will pay a state visit to China from May 11 to 14, continuing high-level exchanges and signaling both countries' intent to build on a long-standing foundation of political trust and practical cooperation.
Rahmon's trip will mark the latest chapter in the enduring diplomatic relations between Tajikistan and China, which have spanned decades and been strengthened through regular high-level meetings in recent years.
China and Tajikistan have enjoyed positive and steadily growing relations since establishing diplomatic ties in 1992.
They developed a strategic partnership in 2013, which was upgraded to a comprehensive strategic partnership in 2017. In 2023, the two sides announced the building of a China-Tajikistan community with a shared future featuring everlasting friendship, solidarity and mutual benefit. In 2024, the two countries elevated their ties to a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership in the new era.
Growing high-level engagement
Along with the steadily growing bilateral relations, President Xi and his Tajik counterpart have maintained frequent interactions, forging profound friendship and facilitating the growth of bilateral ties.
Xi paid three state visits to Tajikistan in 2014, 2019 and 2024. Rahmon had visited China 22 times, and his last trip to China was to attend the 25th annual Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in north China's Tianjin and the grand gathering to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War in Beijing last September.
As for the upcoming visit, Tajikistan's Foreign Ministry emphasized that it will be a logical continuation of the political dialogue between the leaders of both countries and will give new impetus to strengthening friendship between both peoples and developing good-neighborly bilateral relations.
In an interview with China Media Group, Chinese Ambassador to Tajikistan Guo Zhijun said the upcoming meeting between leaders of China and Tajikistan will guide bilateral relations toward a higher level, broader scope and deeper stage of development.
Undated photo shows locals learning techniques in the Luban Workshop in Tajikistan. (Photo: VCG)
Tangible development of ties
Economic and trade cooperation has been a steady driver of China-Tajikistan ties. China has become Tajikistan's largest trading partner and remains its top source of investment, said Guo, adding that the momentum of economic and trade development was even more encouraging with bilateral trade reaching $790 million in the first quarter of this year, a year-on-year increase of over 50%.
In 2014, China and Tajikistan signed a memorandum to build the Silk Road Economic Belt, making Tajikistan the first country to do so under the Belt and Road Initiative. Since then, Tajikistan has witnessed multiple cooperation projects under the framework, including the construction of the China-Tajikistan highway, the Vahdat-Yavan railway, the buildings for Tajikistan's government and parliament in Dushanbe, and other infrastructure and energy projects. All those projects have helped upgrade Tajikistan's industrial technology and created thousands of local jobs.
Pursuing high-quality development to meet their national development goals, China and Tajikistan are exploring cooperation in fields like the green economy and digital technologies. Those cutting-edge areas are priority topics for joint projects to be discussed during Rahmon's upcoming visit, according to Tajikistan's Foreign Ministry.
Rahmon has declared 2025-2030 as the years of digital economy and innovation development in Tajikistan. Given China's leading edge in artificial intelligence, Guo said China is prepared to continue cooperating with Tajikistan to cultivate new quality productive forces, apply AI in key sectors such as mining and agriculture, and ensure that both peoples benefit from technological progress.
Cultural and educational exchanges have also reinforced increasingly amicable ties. Tajikistan hosts two Confucius Institutes. It also launched China's first Luban Workshop in Central Asia in Dushanbe in 2022, inaugurated the China-Tajikistan Traditional Chinese Medicine Center in 2023 and held Tajikistan Culture Days in China last year. These initiatives cultivate talent, foster development and strengthen the bridge of friendship between the peoples of China and Tajikistan.