China, Central Asia vow to uphold multilateralism

China and all five of its Central Asian neighbors have reached fresh consensus and made productive action plans for shoring up free trade, building up connectivity and upholding multilateralism, as their senior diplomats met on Saturday in Almaty, Kazakhstan, for the sixth China-Central Asia Foreign Ministers' Meeting.

The senior diplomats engaged in in-depth discussions on advancing China-Central Asia cooperation in various aspects. The meeting was expected to pave the way for the second China-Central Asia Summit, which will be held in Astana, Kazakhstan, in June.

The gathering sent a strong message of renewed unity among the six nations to jointly reject unilateralism and protectionism amid lingering tariff wars and trade wars initiated by Washington, officials said.

The China-Central Asia mechanism was launched in 2020, and the first China-Central Asia Summit was held in 2023 in Xi'an, Shaanxi province.

All members of the mechanism exchanged views on documents to be signed at the upcoming summit, and they vowed further coordination to make the summit a great success, according to a joint statement about the Saturday meeting released by China's Foreign Ministry.

While addressing the meeting, Kazakhstan's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Murat Nurtleu said, "The upcoming meeting of leaders will open a new milestone of eternal friendship and prosperity."

The six countries are "creating all conditions" for the China-Central Asia mechanism to "become a flagship among the mechanisms of (Central Asia Plus)", the newspaper Astana Times quoted Nurtleu as saying.

China is Central Asia's top trading partner and a major source of investment.

At the meeting, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that China will unswervingly advance high-level opening-up and "seek common development with neighboring countries".

He noted that the United States has imposed arbitrary tariffs on more than 180 countries, infringing upon their legitimate rights and interests.

China has stepped forward and taken necessary countermeasures "not only to defend its own legitimate rights and interests, but also to safeguard international rules and order as well as international fairness and justice", Wang said.

Regarding trade and production, the meeting's joint statement said that "the (attending) parties reaffirm their support for multilateralism and the rules of international trade, do not approve of the practice of unilateral protectionism, and will strengthen coordination and form a united position in this regard in order to safeguard their legitimate rights and interests".

The six nations welcomed the holding of import and export exhibitions as well as the rolling out of business and investment activities among them.

In addition, they underlined the necessity to "strengthen investment cooperation within the framework of the mechanism, expand industrial cooperation, ensure the stability of production and supply chains, and enhance efficiency", the joint statement said.

According to China's General Administration of Customs, China's total trade with the five Central Asian countries reached $77.132 billion in the first 10 months of last year.

In the first quarter of this year, China's total trade with the five countries increased 6.9 percent year-on-year, Xinhua News Agency reported on April 18.

Han Chunlin, China's ambassador to Kazakhstan, noted recently that China has signed cooperation documents with all five Central Asian countries on co-building the Belt and Road, "setting a benchmark in the global arena".

Regarding the joint building of a community with a shared future, Han wrote in an article this month in People's Daily that "China and Central Asian countries respect one another's path of development of independent choice, firmly support one another in core interests related to national independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, and resolutely oppose interference from outside".

On behalf of Beijing, Foreign Minister Wang put forward a five-point proposal at the meeting on Saturday for deepening China-Central Asia cooperation. It calls for being firm in upholding good faith and fostering harmony; sticking to mutually beneficial cooperation; further advancing institutional development; adhering to fairness and justice; and being firm in friendship for generations.

"All attending parties agreed that China serves as a stabilizing force in a turbulent world and has demonstrated leadership in supporting multilateralism," China's Foreign Ministry said in a news release on Saturday.

The five Central Asian countries said they are ready to strengthen the synergy between their national development strategies and the Belt and Road Initiative.

The five nations are also ready to further jointly combat the "three evil forces" of terrorism, extremism and separatism, and transnational crime in order to maintain regional peace and stability, according to the nations' diplomats.