Tajik President Emomali Rahmon holds a grand welcome ceremony for Chinese President Xi Jinping at the airport in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.

China, Tajikistan elevate ties during Xi’s landmark

(Global Times) -- China and Tajikistan on Friday announced the elevation of ties to comprehensive strategic partnership in the new era during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s ongoing state visit to Tajikistan, injecting new momentum and opening up a new chapter in bilateral ties and common development of the two countries.
The visit, which saw Xi award Tajik President Emomali Rahmon the Friendship Medal of the People’s Republic of China and the issuing of a joint statement detailing the blueprint for bilateral cooperation, is seen as a landmark event, underscoring the high-quality development and the elevation of bilateral ties led by head-of-state diplomacy, analysts said. It showed that the profound friendships between the two neighbors are “as steadfast as the Pamir Plateau,” they noted.
Deepening of bilateral ties is based on mutual trust and mutual support of core interests, which shows that the two countries - despite with different cultures, size of the economy and the level of development - have been pioneering in the development of a new type of international relations that are characterised by mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit, observers said. They stressed that the exemplary bilateral exchange also serves as a strong counter against Western hegemony and unilateralism that only lead to flare-up geopolitical tensions.
In light of the new circumstances, more priority areas for bilateral cooperation are being laid out during the visit, which will inject new momentum and open up a new chapter to the collaboration of China and Tajikistan. The two countries will also gear up the joint building of Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to create more growth opportunities for the Central Asian region.
Some of the other focal areas of collaboration also align with the goals set by the just concluded Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in safeguarding regional peace and stability, analysts said, expecting the two countries, upon the visit, to coordinate more efforts to tackle both conventional and nonconventional security threats.
During his talks with Rahmon, Xi said China and Tajikistan are connected by mountains and rivers, interdependent like lips and teeth, and sharing a common destiny. The relationship between the two countries has deep historical roots, a solid political foundation, rich content of cooperation, and broad popular support, he added.
With joint efforts of both sides, China and Tajikistan have continuously deepened their political mutual trust, yielded fruitful results in the Belt and Road cooperation, and progressed a series of major projects smoothly, strongly promoting the common development of both countries, Xi said.
“The visit is a landmark event. It has achieved significant results, laying the future foundation for deepening strategic relations between China and Tajikistan,” Guzel Maitdinova, a professor at the Department of Foreign Regional Studies and Foreign Policy at Russian-Tajik (Slavonic) University, told the Global Times.
Head-of-state diplomacy has a political advantage and is the greatest guarantee for the stable and long-term development of China-Tajikistan relations, observers noted.
The ongoing visit also marks Xi’s third state visit to Tajikistan in recent years. He also visited the Central Asian country in 2014 and 2019. The leaders of China and Tajikistan have been maintaining frequent interactions through various forms such as face-to-face meetings and phone calls, jointly steering and guiding the bilateral relationship.
The visit of China’s top leader has received warm welcome among the Tajik people.
The Global Times witnessed on Thursday night a grand ceremony which was held at Dushanbe International Airport to welcome Xi’s arrival in the country. Tajik young people dressed in traditional costume were performing folk dance and waving the national flags of China and Tajikistan at the airport. 

 (Latest Update July 8, 2024)