【智库声音】CGTN | 孙祁：“中国—中亚机制”成为地区多边合作新范式

A view of the Akorda Presidential Palace, Astana, capital of Kazakhstan. /VCG

Good-neighborly relations and friendship are a strong guarantee for deepening cooperation. The convening of the second China-Central Asia Summit comes at a time of complex international circumstances. China and the five Central Asian countries have jointly signed a treaty of permanent good-neighborliness and friendly cooperation, codifying the principle of lasting friendship in legal form. As a result, the political mutual trust and strategic partnership between the six countries has reached unprecedented new heights. This high level of political trust serves as a stabilizing anchor, providing strong assurance for deeper cooperation in economy, security, culture and other fields.

Industrial cooperation continues to deepen. The summit agreed to designate 2025 and 2026 as the Years of High-Quality Development of China-Central Asia Cooperation. In the future, cooperation between China and Central Asian countries will not only focus on complementing each other's strengths in traditional sectors, but will also emphasize sharing development experience and jointly leveraging the latest technological achievements. This will promote deep integration in new quality productive forces, such as digital infrastructure connectivity and artificial intelligence cooperation.

The regional security is being steadily reinforced. China has provided strong support for Central Asian countries to resist infiltration by the "three forces" of terrorism, separatism and extremism, while the Central Asian nations have become an important buffer for China's security and stability in the west. China and Central Asian countries are committed to building an indivisible regional security order, strengthening the security foundation for the Belt and Road Initiative and sustainable regional development, and fully demonstrating China's role and responsibility as a major power in regional security governance.

Pragmatic cooperation vs. fragmented diplomacy: The systemic advantages of the China-Central Asia mechanism are striking. The cooperation framework between China and the five Central Asian countries is centered on deep coordination around core issues such as connectivity, digital economy, green development, climate resilience and trade facilitation, forming a comprehensive structure that covers political, economic, security and cultural fields. This institutionalized and regularized mode of cooperation ensures both policy continuity and sustainable outcomes.

In contrast, U.S. and EU diplomacy in Central Asia tends to be relatively scattered and lacks coordination. The United States mainly engages with Central Asian countries through bilateral channels or ad hoc initiatives, lacking a standing multilateral mechanism. Although there is an EU-Central Asia cooperation platform in place, its operation is often constrained by divergent interests among member states. Such fragmented diplomatic approaches have limited effect when addressing regional challenges and promoting regional integration.

Inclusive development vs. exclusive competition: China advocates for regional cooperation based on openness and inclusiveness, without creating imaginary enemies or forming exclusive cliques. The China-Central Asia Summit focuses on providing international public goods to promote peace and stability in the region, aiming to advance development and improve people's livelihoods through infrastructure construction, capacity cooperation and technology transfer. This model emphasizes "enlarging the pie" rather than "fighting over the pie," reflecting the core concept of building a community with a shared future for mankind.

In sharp contrast, Western-led multilateral mechanisms such as the G7 often exhibit distinct undertones of value export and geopolitical confrontation. In addressing issues like Russia-Ukraine conflict and concerns about China's development, these mechanisms typically adopt a zero-sum "friend-or-foe" mentality and are prone to isolating targeted countries through sanctions and decoupling, which objectively exacerbates division and antagonism within the international community.

Results-oriented vs. political declarations: China-Central Asia cooperation emphasizes tangible results and regional development. From China-Europe freight trains to cross-border e-commerce, from new energy projects to the construction of digital infrastructure, the outcomes are visible and concrete, directly benefiting people across the partner countries. A series of agreements and memoranda of understanding signed during the summit have clear timelines, roadmaps and responsible parties, ensuring all sides can deliver on their commitments. While many Western-led multilateral mechanisms often remain at the level of political declarations and moral statements, with relatively limited substantive projects and financial input. Even when commitments are made, they are often delayed due to complex decision-making procedures and internal disagreements among member states.

Amid unprecedented global changes, the new model of regional cooperation demonstrated by the China-Central Asia Summit not only injects strong momentum to peaceful development of the region, but also offers valuable lessons for global governance.