What works for Central Asia’s economic resilience?

How can they promote external trade and diversify trade structure to achieve economic resilience amid the lingering trade turbulence?

Expanding cooperation with China on cross-border e-commerce and manufacturing

China and its five Central Asian neighbors enjoy a high degree of complementarity in bilateral trade. China's manufacturing industry is in a leading position globally. In contrast, five Central Asian countries' trade structure is dominated by resource intensive products such as coal, crude oil, natural gas, agricultural and handicraft products. For example, Kyrgyzstan's traditional textiles, renowned for their craftsmanship, are among its major exports to China.

Currently, the cross-border industrial chains and logistics supply chain are undergoing an irreversible trend of restructuring, digitalization and intelligent transformation to address increasingly complex supply chain challenges. Given their relatively simple trade structure, expanding cooperation with China on cross-border e-commerce and manufacturing will bring substantial economic and social benefits to Central Asian countries.

China is committed to the in-depth application of big data and artificial intelligence in industrial chains and the logistics supply chain, continuously enhancing resource integration and business model innovation, and strengthening emergency response capabilities under unexpected circumstances. With the promotion of bilateral governments, nearly 300 companies from Central Asia have set up operations on China's e-commerce platforms.

China is Central Asia's top trading partner and a major source of investment. According to China's General Administration of Customs, its total trade with five Central Asian countries reached $94.8 billion in 2024, and $89.4 billion in 2023.

At the provincial level, benefiting from its geographic location, new rail hubs, and record-breaking logistics investments, Shaanxi's imports and exports to Central Asia expanded from 57.9 billion Chinese yuan ($8 billion) in 2023 to 86.2 billion yuan in 2024.

Strengthening cooperation with China under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)

The issue of connectivity will determine the economic orientation of Central Asian countries, and even their trade structure, self-determination and openness.

As a golden gateway both to European markets and the Chinese market, participating in the BRI helps transform landlocked Central Asia's geographic disadvantage into an advantage to become a key hub for the transit trade between East and West, while diversifying Central Asia's trade structure and elevating its status in the global supply chain.

With 80 percent passing through Central Asia, China-Europe freight trains provide a significant boost to the stability of global industrial and supply chains, with more than 200 categories of goods ranging from new energy vehicles and mechanical parts to electronics and daily consumer goods.

The China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway under construction will create a new shortcut between China and Europe, starting in Kashgar, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, and run through the mountainous terrain of Kyrgyzstan before reaching Uzbekistan. The route designed for trains running at speeds of up to 120 kilometers per hour will significantly reduce travel times and eliminate multiple loading and unloading procedures between two sides. The high-quality route is expected to become a new demonstration project for cooperation under the BRI.

Since the start of the Ukraine crisis, the Middle Corridor (also called the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route, or TITR), a key trade route connecting China and Europe via Central Asia and the South Caucasus, is gaining prominence for linking Europe and Asia and winning increasing global attention. This route holds considerable strategic and economic significance and may become a vital link in the global logistics system. The comprehensive alignment of the Middle Corridor and the BRI will inject new impetus into regional economic integration across the Eurasian continent. Such an alignment can unlock the geographic, logistical, and economic advantages of Central Asia and the Caucasus, and enhance trade and cultural exchanges across Eurasia.

Joining hands with China to combat geopolitical challenges

Against the shifting geopolitical landscape and the uncertainty over U.S. tariffs, China has sent a clear signal of its unwavering commitment to high-level opening up, and high-standard international economic and trade rules.

China's economic evolution towards high-quality, eco-friendly development has translated into shared global opportunities. China has fully applied the negative list for cross-border trade in services, meaning that for services not listed, foreign companies can generally operate with the same rights as domestic firms. It has also fostered a more conducive business environment and launched opening-up trials for valued-added telecom services, biotechnology and wholly foreign-owned hospitals.

To defend their own legitimate rights and interests under attack from the "America First" model, Central Asian countries and the Global South in general must join hands with China to strengthen their internal momentum to explore new routes for diversifying trade structure and jointly building a community with a shared future, while holding a critical vigilance to hegemonic aspirations of traditional powers and colonialism that sought to destroy their cultural re-birth and controlled their economies historically.

Earlier, it was reported that Central Asia's major media outlets are to broadcast international edition of “Xi Jinping’s Famous Quotes”.