South Korean media focus on China surpassing Russia as the largest partner of the "Stans" in Central Asia
According to statistics, China has surpassed Russia to become the largest trading partner of the former Soviet states - the five Central Asian countries (Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan).
On the 18th, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce announced that the trade volume between China and the five Central Asian countries in 2025 increased by 12% year-on-year to 106.3 billion U.S. dollars (about 157 trillion South Korean won), breaking through the 100 billion U.S. dollar threshold for the first time in history. Central Asia is both a resource treasure house and a strategic geographical hub, and it is an important node in the Belt and Road Initiative.
On that day, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce emphasized: "Under the leadership of the head-of-state diplomacy strategy, the annual import and export growth rate of China and Central Asian countries increased by 6 percentage points compared to the previous year, and the scale of trade has maintained positive growth for five consecutive years."
China's exports to Central Asia amounted to 71.2 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 11% year-on-year, with exports mainly consisting of machinery and electrical products, high-tech products, and the "new three" (electric vehicles, batteries, solar cells); imports from Central Asia reached 35.1 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 14% year-on-year, with the variety of non-resource products such as chemicals and agricultural products further enriched. Cooperation in cross-border e-commerce, cross-border payment cooperation, and the construction of storage and logistics infrastructure is also continuously expanding.
China has been trying to build an economic corridor between China-Central Asia-West Asia under the Belt and Road Initiative, and has expanded trade relations with Central Asia.
An analysis suggests that after the outbreak of the Ukraine war in 2022, due to Russia's increasing reliance on China and its lack of capacity to invest in neighboring countries. China is pushing forward projects such as railways, highways, power grids, gas and oil pipelines, wind power, and photovoltaic power stations.
At the same time, China is also increasing its diplomatic efforts in Central Asia. In 2023, the China-Central Asia summit mechanism was established, and summits were held every other year. At the 2025 Tianjin SCO summit, all five Central Asian country leaders attended.
Source: Chosun Ilbo
Original: toutiao.com/article/1854886412290311/
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