FM: Central Asian ties a key priority

China, five nations have helped each other during COVID-19 outbreaks

Both senior officials and experts have agreed that maintaining China's communication with five Central Asian countries conforms to the interests of both sides and will play a positive role in promoting their cooperation in the fight against COVID-19.

State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Thursday attended and presided over the first China +Central Asia foreign ministers meeting via video link. The foreign ministers agreed to make the meeting an annual mechanism.

The five countries are Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

In a statement issued by the Foreign Ministry, Wang said that the ministers supported the synergy between the Belt and Road Initiative and the development strategies of Central Asian countries and stressed the need to promote interconnectivity, agricultural cooperation and high tech teamwork in areas like e-commerce, artificial intelligence and big data.

They also agreed during the videoconference that while continuing to practice pandemic-prevention measures, China and Central Asian nations should establish fast-check lanes for exchanges of commercial and technological personnel and goods to resume production in a proper and orderly way, Wang added.

While ensuring the safety of personnel, taking concrete measures to resume personnel exchanges and flows of goods will help reduce economic impact and maintain cooperation to guarantee people's livelihoods, which is their common concern, said Feng Yujun, deputy dean of the Institute of International Studies and director of the Russia-Central Asia Research Center at Fudan University.

As the five Central Asian countries link China and Europe geographically, Feng said that advancing Belt and Road cooperation between China and these five nations is important.

During the videoconference, Wang said that cooperation between China and Central Asia does not target any third party, nor does it affect bilateral and multilateral cooperation in the region.

"China's cooperation with the five countries is not aimed to subvert their cooperation with other nations such as the United States and Japan,"Feng said, adding that different countries' cooperation with the area has different priorities.

He said the C+C5 mechanism supplements the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which offers a platform for their cooperation in a focused way.

As the five countries are neighbors of China, Feng said that as the international landscape changes, strengthening China's cooperation with the countries in areas like regional security, anti-pandemic, anti-terrorism, food security as well as culture is in line with the common interests of both sides.

As the containment of the coronavirus is still a common task for both sides, Feng said mutual support and assistance between China and Central Asian countries when facing a common challenge has set a good example.

Central Asian countries tried their best to assist China when the virus first hit the country, and in return, China has offered medical assistance and sent medical teams to the five countries to help in their fight, which is conducive to slowing the spread of the pandemic, he said.