“Before the pandemic, China was on track to become the largest trading partner for all Central Asian countries, and while the numbers dropped dramatically during the pandemic, I expect China to return as the top trading partner next year.” Will come or so,” said Raffaello Pantucci, senior fellow at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) in Singapore.
After the summit in Xi’an, Beijing is expected to launch new visa-free initiatives with several Central Asian countries. Currently, both Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have reached agreements with China regarding a visa-free regime, while Kyrgyzstan is still negotiating terms with Beijing.
The Atlantic Council’s Yau told DW that the visa-free regime is linked to the opening up of Central Asian exports to China, as countries in the region have been trying to sell a large amount of products to China for years. ,[The visa-free regime] This is a card that China will play with Central Asia and it cannot be done without the free flow of businessmen,” he said, adding that China has already made similar agreements with countries in Southeast Asia.
RSIS’s Pantuchi said several Central Asian countries border the Xinjiang Autonomous Region, where Chinese authorities are cracking down on the Uyghur ethnic minority.
“The important fact for China about Central Asia is that it is next to Xinjiang, and therefore, the development of Xinjiang is very closely linked to this part of the world,” Pantucci told DW.