Memorandum with Bishkek and Tashkent for the connection between Kashgar and Andijon that will shorten Beijing’s commercial land route to Europe and the Persian Gulf, leaving Russia isolated. The Chinese president said it was “a demonstration of determination” regarding the Belt and Road Initiative.
Beijing (/Agencies) – China, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan officially signed an agreement in Beijing for the construction of a key railway corridor of the Belt and Road Initiative project. This is a work that should extend 525 kilometers from the Chinese city of Kashgar, in Xinjiang, crossing southwest Kyrgyzstan until reaching Andijon, in eastern Uzbekistan.
This project – whose cost is estimated at 8 billion dollars – has been talked about since the ’90s and is strategic for Beijing because it would significantly shorten the land journey of goods from China to Europe and the Persian Gulf. Already in 1997 the three countries signed a memorandum on this railway line, but it later ran aground due to technical and (above all) geopolitical issues. Russia, which considers Central Asia its backyard, was not at all enthusiastic about a project that would have left it out of the game. However, with the war in Ukraine the balance of power with China has changed: now, due to sanctions imposed by the West, Moscow is increasingly dependent on China for trade, and the Kremlin has also given its approval.
On the occasion of the signing – which took place in Beijing with the three presidents connected by video conference – Xi Jinping praised the agreement, stating that it was “a demonstration of determination.” “The China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan Railway is a strategic project for China’s connectivity with Central Asia and a reference project for our three countries for the joint construction of the Belt and Road Initiative,” Xi said, waiting for work to begin. soon”, for the benefit of the three countries and their peoples and to give impetus to the economic and social development of the region”.
Add Comment