Golden friendship

MA XUEJING/CHINA DAILY

Mutual trust between Kazakhstan and China is deeply rooted to enable ties to grow to new heights

The year 2022 is an anniversary for diplomatic relations between Kazakhstan and China. Thirty years of cooperation is by any standards a high-profile event and a good reason to look back at the path that has been traveled and to assess future prospects.

Relations between Kazakhstan and China are deeply rooted in the historical reality. Since ancient times, being on the Great Silk Road, the peoples of the two countries have developed trade relations, and an intensive process of mutual enrichment of ideas and knowledge has been constantly going on. It is safe to say that the close historical relationship between the two peoples has become a kind of "golden bridge" for the successful development of bilateral relations in the modern age.

A new page for state-to-state relations based on friendship, good neighborliness and mutual trust opened on Jan 3, 1992, when China was one of the first to recognize the independence of Kazakhstan and the two countries established diplomatic relations. Since then, they have come a long way, bilateral cooperation has progressed significantly and important results have been reached.

Kazakhstan and China have become partners with a common border of peace and friendship. The final legislative formalization of the Kazakh-Chinese border was a historic achievement. All this is reflected in the Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year.

Over the past three decades, in the spirit of mutual benefit, unbreakable friendship, mutual trust and in-depth cooperation, Kazakh-Chinese relations have risen to the unique level of an eternal comprehensive strategic partnership. Such a high level is an example of true good neighborliness. Today, relations between Kazakhstan and China are notable for their steadiness and stability, they are not influenced by external factors, and they have significant potential and prospects for further development.

A few examples should provide sufficient illustration. Over three decades, a substantial contractual and legal framework comprising almost 500 bilateral documents in various fields of cooperation has been created. About 20 permanent cooperation mechanisms are functioning between the two sides now. More than 10 regions of Kazakhstan and China have established twinned relations.

China has become Kazakhstan's main economic and foreign trade partner. The volume of trade between the two countries has increased almost 70 times and by the end of last year, according to China's customs statistics, it had reached about $25 billion. From 2005 to 2021, Chinese investments in Kazakhstan rose to about $20.5 billion. According to this indicator, China is among the five largest investment partners of our country. A list of 52 joint projects worth about $21.1 billion is currently being worked out.

As part of the initiative for the construction of the Silk Road Economic Belt, first proposed by President Xi Jinping in Kazakhstan in 2013, we have launched important connectivity projects, including the Khorgos International Border Cooperation Center, the Khorgos-Eastern Gate special economic zone, the Kazakh-Chinese joint logistics terminal at the port of Lianyungang as well as the Western Europe-Western China Highway.

And there are broad prospects for building up effective cooperation. In February, the leaders of the two countries held meaningful talks on the full range of bilateral and multilateral agendas and agreed to open a new "golden 30th anniversary" of relations between New Kazakhstan and China in the new era.

The heads of states have set a clear mission for high-quality multifaceted cooperation for the benefit of the peoples of the two countries. Therefore, our efforts are aimed at further improving effective cooperation, by strengthening direct contacts between business structures, building new transport and logistics corridors, and intensifying cultural and humanitarian exchanges. Joint efforts to create a pool of breakthrough innovation and technology projects and uninterrupted transport and logistics chains look promising. In this context, cooperation under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative will be further strengthened.

At the same time, the Central Asia-China Cooperation Dialogue has become a promising platform. The third China+Central Asia (C+C5) foreign ministers' meeting was held on June 8, 2022 in Nur-Sultan. The results of the official visit of Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi to Kazakhstan and his participation in the meeting once again demonstrated the high level of bilateral relations, and also established a framework for new opportunities for further strengthening friendly ties.

We are also committed to a course of regular contacts for regional security and development. As is known, Kazakhstan consistently adheres to its multi-faceted foreign policy, which is aimed at building meaningful cooperation with all partners and increasing the level of trust in state-to-state relations.

In this regard, I would like to highlight the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia. The CICA has the necessary potential and maturity to develop common confidence-building measures to counter modern challenges and threats.

Kazakhstan chairs the CICA and promotes a number of initiatives so that the conference plays an increasingly significant role in ensuring security and development in the region. One of the main ideas is to transform the CICA into a full-fledged international organization. This will propel collective efforts to counter current challenges and threats to a totally new level.

This autumn, the CICA Summit chaired by Kazakhstan will be held in Nur-Sultan. We are confident that China's systematic support will contribute to the development of the CICA and its further transformation into an international organization.

Summing up the results of 30 years of cooperation, it may safely be said that Kazakhstan and China have managed to make significant progress, primarily in resolving the border issue, promoting cooperation on the joint use and protection of the resources of trans-boundary rivers, increasing trade volumes, expanding fields of cooperation, actively cooperating with international organizations, and propelling bilateral relations to the level of an eternal comprehensive strategic partnership. And of course, the most important progress is the atmosphere of friendship and mutual trust.

I am sure that the friendship which has been forged over the past 30 years will provide a solid foundation for the journey over the next 30 years.

The author is Kazakhstan's ambassador to China. The author contributed this article to China Watch, a think tank powered by China Daily. The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

Contact the editor at editor@chinawatch.cn