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The China-Central Asia Summit is being held in Xi’an, the capital of Shaanxi Province. China is hosting the leaders of five Central Asian countries: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The summit is of milestone significance in the history of relations between China and Central Asian countries.
How should one view the achievements of Belt and Road cooperation between China and Central Asian countries? What trends are emerging in people-to-people and cultural exchanges between China and Central Asian countries?
We invite Bian Yanjie, distinguished professor of sociology and director of Xi'an Jiaotong University’s institute for empirical social science research to try to answer these questions.
Bian calls the achievements of Belt and Road cooperation “a new chapter.”
Politically this new chapter indicates China will strengthen its relationships with the five Central Asian countries, he says.
Economically the new chapter means not only the past decade, but also future expansion.
Culturally, he says “this new chapter is a very good one for non-economic exchanges, which will be built around the mutual understanding of the people in the region.”
Trade, cultural and people-to-people cooperation is increasing between China and Central Asian countries, Bian says.
Mutual trust, knowledge of each other and further integration will also increase in the future, he believes.
(Produced by Lin Rui, Wang Yiting, Yin Ziheng and Ma Yue)
