Pragmatic cooperation essential for vitality of Sino-Kyrgyz ties and regional stability: China Daily editorial

Seven years ago, President Xi Jinping wrote in an article published by Kyrgyz media that China-Kyrgyzstan friendship should "thrive like an evergreen tree". As detailed in another signed article published in Kyrgyz media before his state visit to the Central Asian country this week, the tree has thrived. And the meeting between Xi and Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov in Bishkek on Monday showed the tree will continue to flourish.

The two leaders not only signed a bilateral treaty on permanent good-neighborliness, friendship and cooperation, but also witnessed the exchange of multiple bilateral cooperation documents in various fields after their talks.

These cooperation agreements and documents span a wide range of sectors — including infrastructure, energy, agriculture, the digital economy, high technology, commerce, investment and people-to-people exchanges. Tailored to the needs of both sides, they provide a platform and practical channels for aligning their respective development strategies and cultivating new growth points in pragmatic cooperation.

China has long been Kyrgyzstan's largest trading partner, its largest source of imports, and its largest source of foreign investment. Last year, bilateral trade reached a record high of $27.2 billion, up about 20 percent year-on-year. Trade between China and Kyrgyzstan accounted for one-fourth of China's total trade with Central Asian countries.

Kyrgyzstan was one of the first countries to support and actively participate in the Belt and Road Initiative. Over the years, high-quality BRI cooperation between the two nations has delivered fruitful results, with bilateral collaboration steadily expanding into emerging fields. At the same time, people-to-people exchanges in education, culture, healthcare and youth affairs have continued to grow.

In an era of intensifying international uncertainty, the mutually beneficial ties between China and Kyrgyzstan have demonstrated remarkable stability and predictability. This solid foundation is attributable not only to the two neighbors' long-standing historical interactions, but also to the political mutual trust, economic complementarity and people-to-people affinity that define their contemporary relationship, alongside their common aspiration for regional peace and collective progress.

As the new cooperative agreements and documents indicate, relevant government departments, enterprises and organizations on both sides will continue to strengthen cooperation, ensuring that shared intentions are translated into tangible actions and outcomes that deliver concrete benefits to the peoples of the two countries and the region as a whole.

The two sides have worked together on a number of major projects that deliver long-term benefits and real improvements to the lives of local communities. Describing the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway as a major transportation artery that carries the development aspirations of the people across the region, Xi called on China and Kyrgyzstan to ensure the high-quality construction of the railway that started in 2024.

Japarov said that Kyrgyzstan stands ready to actively advance the construction of the railway project, so as to turn it into a "steel Silk Road" for the new era and a new bond of friendship between China and Kyrgyzstan.

Better infrastructure and institutional links, stronger people-to-people ties and deeper economic integration have broadened the common ground between the two nations and increased their common interests. This firmly underpins their efforts to coordinate effectively to advance an equal and orderly multipolar world, and support universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalization.

Also on Monday in Bishkek, the pursuit of regional peace and stability, a commitment to dialogue and cooperation for the betterment of people's lives, and a willingness to properly tackle regional and global hotspot issues were recurring themes in the respective bilateral meetings Xi had with Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, Mongolian President Ukhnaa Khurelsukh and Russian President Vladimir Putin before the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit 2026 starts on Tuesday.

Together, these engagements demonstrate to the world that the countries in this region possess the resolve to safeguard regional stability and promote its common development.