China’s Qin Gang targets energy, infrastructure and Central Asia train project in Uzbekistan talks

Chinese foreign minister meets Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev in Tashkent, highlighting need for secure energy supplies
China willing to ‘work closely’ with Uzbekistan before a meeting of Central Asian foreign ministers to discuss situation in neighbouring Afghanistan

Belt and Road Initiative

Amber Wangin Beijing

Published: 5:00pm, 13 Apr 2023

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China will speed up strategic cooperation with Uzbekistan, focusing on new energy and infrastructure, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang said in talks with Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev on Wednesday.

Qin, who is on his first trip to Uzbekistan as minister, called for work to start as soon as possible on construction of the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan (CKU) railway project which will offer Beijing an alternative land route for Chinese goods to reach the Middle East and Europe.

Construction on the railway, originally conceived in the mid-1990s, is expected to start this year after Beijing finally reached an agreement with Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan last year.

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Referring to Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Uzbekistan last year, Qin said China was willing to push bilateral relations between China and Uzbekistan to a new level.

He called on the two sides to implement a five-year plan for economic, trade and investment cooperation, with aim of achieving an annual trade turnover of US$10 billion as set by the two heads of state.

Xi chose Central Asia as the destination for his visit in September, his first overseas trip since the pandemic lockdown, as a region that is increasingly important to Beijing in terms of economics and security.

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Uzbekistan represents a key hub for China’s natural gas supply, with the Central Asia-China pipeline running through the country and channelling up to 10 billion cubic metres (353 billion cubic feet) of natural gas to China per year.

According to the Uzbek state statistics committee, China was the main destination for Uzbek exports last year, closely followed by Russia.

During the meeting in Tashkent on Wednesday, Qin said China was willing to help Uzbekistan in poverty alleviation and set a joint committee to help reach goals in the area.

The new energy cooperation should be expanded to optimise the energy structure and keep supplies secure, Qin said.

The foreign minister said China appreciated Uzbekistan’s support on issues concerning China’s core interests, in a reference to issues such as Taiwan.

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Qin said China was ready to work with Uzbekistan to jointly combat the “three forces” – terrorism, separatism and extremism – to safeguard the peace and stability of the two countries, and the region.

China was also willing to “work closely” with Uzbekistan before a meeting on Thursday between the foreign ministers of Uzbekistan, Iran, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan to discuss the situation in neighbouring Afghanistan – the fourth such meeting since 2021.

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Qin Gang welcomed Mirziyoyev’s future attendance at the China-Central Asia Summit and the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, both to be held in China this year.

Mirziyoyev was quoted in a Chinese foreign ministry statement about the meeting with Qin as saying he was willing to speed up the CKU railway project and expand trade, new energy and infrastructure cooperation with Beijing.