China’s Xi signs treaty to elevate ties with Central Asia

BEIJING - Chinese President Xi Jinping signed a treaty to elevate ties with Central Asian nations on June 17, as Beijing looks to further deepen cooperation on trade, energy and infrastructure with the resource-rich region.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Beijing has been stepping up efforts to boost economic links with Central Asian nations traditionally within Russia’s sphere of influence, drawn by their strategic location and energy resources.

At a regional summit in the Kazakh capital of Astana on June 17, Mr Xi, lauding a milestone, signed a treaty of “permanent good-neighbourliness and friendly cooperation” with leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, China’s official Xinhua news agency reported.

This week’s summit is the second such gathering, following the pomp-filled, inaugural gathering in north-west China in 2023. Both occasions have coincided with meetings of Group of Seven leaders.

“At present, the world is undergoing accelerating changes unseen in a century, entering a new period of turbulence and transformation,” Xinhua quoted Mr Xi as saying in a speech at the summit.

“Trade wars and tariff wars produce no winners, and unilateralism, protectionism, and hegemonism are bound to harm both others and oneself,” he said, in a thinly veiled swipe at the US that had engaged in escalating tariffs with Beijing.

“China is ready to work with Central Asian countries to safeguard international justice, oppose hegemonism and power politics,” Mr Xi said.

He also pledged 1.5 billion yuan (S$268 million) in grant assistance to the Central Asian countries in 2025 to support their livelihood and development projects, and called for more cooperation in areas including trade, minerals and agriculture.

Despite

a trade truce

with the US, Beijing has been keen to consolidate relations with its regional partners.

China’s two-way trade with the five Central Asian countries reached a record 286.42 billion yuan in the first five months of 2025, a 10.4 per cent year-on-year increase, Xinhua reported citing the Chinese Customs.

Turkmenistan, which is a major supplier of natural gas for China, is the only Central Asian nation with a trade surplus with China. Kazakhstan’s and Kyrgyzstan’s trade deficits with China run into the tens of billions.

Energy, minerals cooperation

In separate bilateral meetings with the regional leaders, Mr Xi called for expanded cooperation in natural gas, minerals, international railway and law enforcement, according to summaries posted by the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

In meetings with the Uzbek and Kyrgyz presidents on June 17, he urged progress on the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway, an overland route bypassing Russia.

The project has been discussed since the 1990s but gained new importance after the sanctions on Russia resulted in shippers between China and Europe avoiding sending goods via Russia.

The five former Soviet republics offer China alternative routes to secure fuel and food in the event of disruptions elsewhere.

In the long term, the Central Asia route could potentially help cut freight transport times between China and Europe.

In a separate meeting with Turkmenistan’s President Serdar Berdimuhamedow, Mr Xi said “both sides should expand the scale of natural gas cooperation, explore cooperation in non-resource fields and optimise trade structure”. REUTERS