Editor's note: Recently, Yao Peisheng, former Chinese ambassador to Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine, and senior researcher of the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies of Chinese University, said in an exclusive interview with cover news that Tokayev is a "China expert" who understands Chinese history and reality, and is also a veritable "sinologist". The content of the interview is forwarded as follows:
▲Yao Peisheng, former Chinese ambassador to Kazakhstan
01
The SCO family will continue to expand
The predecessor of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) was the "Shanghai Five" meeting mechanism consisting of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
After 23 years of development, the SCO family has 9 member states, 3 observer states and 14 dialogue partners, covering three continents: Asia, Europe and Africa. According to the memorandum signed at the SCO Summit 2023, the SCO family will continue to expand this year.
Since more than 1,000 years ago, Central Asian countries such as Kazakhstan and Tajikistan have played an important role in the Silk Road. Today, the Belt and Road Initiative between China and Kazakhstan has yielded fruitful results.
"Central Asia is a particularly important region in the Silk Road Economic Belt, and every inch of Central Asia has a fascinating atmosphere." Yao Peisheng believes that the "Belt and Road" has made the originally closed Central Asia accessible in all directions, and now it has both land ports and sea ports, and is no longer a landlocked country in the original sense.
Kazakhstan is an economic powerhouse in Central Asia, and its GDP exceeds that of the other four Central Asian countries combined, making it a leader in the regional economic field.
Kazakhstan is China's largest neighbor to the west, with a 1,700-kilometer common border with China, and is a vast country in the Silk Road Economic Belt. In Yao Peisheng's view, Kazakhstan will surely become a modern "big station" connecting China with Eastern Europe, Western Europe, West Asia and the Middle East.
02
Acquaintance with Tokayev for almost 40 years
Yao Peisheng and Tokayev met in 1985 when Tokayev was a diplomat at the Soviet embassy in China. Fluent Chinese, capable appearance, and sincere attitude were the first impressions that Tokayev left on Yao Peisheng.
When he first arrived in Kazakhstan as ambassador, Yao Peisheng met with Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, then prime minister of Kazakhstan, to discuss economic and trade cooperation between China and Kazakhstan. Tokayev told Yao Peisheng that economic and trade cooperation between Kazakhstan and China has been carried out in an all-round way, and he will make every effort to promote economic and trade cooperation between the two countries during his tenure as premier.
At that time, the structure of China-Kazakhstan economic and trade cooperation was relatively simple, and the personnel exchanges and enterprise cooperation between the two sides were not warm, and some large Chinese enterprises encountered many difficulties in developing overseas business in Kazakhstan. As ambassador, Yao Peisheng does each other's work through various channels, and strives to create a new situation in cooperation between China and Kazakhstan. At present, China has firmly established itself as Kazakhstan's largest trading partner, and the two sides have close exchanges.
Thanks to the experience of studying and living in China, Tokayev later became a "China expert" who understood Chinese history and reality, and was also a veritable "sinologist". After the independence of the Republic of Kazakhstan in 1991, Tokayev served as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, then as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Prime Minister, and Speaker of the Upper House of Parliament.
Yao Peisheng clearly remembers that when Tokayev was premier, every time he met with the Chinese delegation, he first delivered a welcome speech in Chinese. On several books presented to Yao Peisheng, Tokayev also wrote his words in neat Chinese characters.
In September 2019, Tokayev, who had just assumed the presidency of Kazakhstan, paid his first state visit to the mainland as president, during which he presented Yao Peisheng with a book reminiscing about his father. Yao Peisheng remembers that there are two interesting episodes in the book: Tokayev's father often told him that he hoped that he would become a celebrity in the future and hold important positions in the state; His father also wanted him to "attack the Chinese language and study China's domestic and foreign affairs well."
In Yao Peisheng's view, Tokayev created three firsts: he was the first diplomat of his generation to be elected president; He is currently the only sitting president in the world who can speak Chinese; He was the first head of state of Kazakhstan to serve as head of government, head of parliament, minister of foreign affairs, and deputy secretary-general of the United Nations.
"Tokayev is one of the main makers of Kazakhstan's foreign policy, and a series of diplomatic developments after Kazakhstan's independence are related to him." In Yao Peisheng's impression, Tokayev's speeches are often different, with both the principled height of a politician and the clever style of a diplomat.
03
China and Kazakhstan have set an example in relations between neighboring countries
China and Kazakhstan are good neighbors, good friends and good partners who are linked by mountains and rivers and depend on each other. Since the establishment of diplomatic relations, bilateral relations have continued to develop by leaps and bounds, reaching the highest level in the history of the permanent comprehensive strategic partnership.
Eleven years ago, Kazakhstan became the first place to mention the initiative to jointly build the "Silk Road Economic Belt". Today, the Belt and Road Initiative between China and Kazakhstan has yielded fruitful results.
In Yao Peisheng's view, as the first place to initiate the "Belt and Road" and the first stop of the land interconnection of the western route of the mainland, Kazakhstan, a "bridgehead" country on the New Eurasian Land Bridge Economic Corridor, has become an important practitioner of the "Belt and Road" initiative.
In fact, among the three main routes of the westbound corridor of the China-Europe freight train, the northern and central trains that depart from the two ports of Alashankou and Khorgos in Xinjiang on the mainland and go to Europe through Kazakhstan have the largest freight volume. Data shows that last year, 17,000 China-Europe freight trains were trained, and about 80% of the container trains sent west by China passed through Kazakhstan.
Since the establishment of diplomatic relations, China-Kazakhstan relations have withstood the test of the changes of the times and international changes, and have formed a unique permanent comprehensive strategic partnership. In Yao Peisheng's view, the cooperation between the two countries will be further deepened, and the potential of cooperation will not be exhausted.
During his tenure at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Yao Peisheng was in charge of Central Asia. Speaking about the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, he told reporters that the high-level leaders of the Central Asian countries have forged a deep personal friendship with the leaders of the mainland, which is very important for strengthening political mutual trust. It is precisely because of political mutual trust that we can achieve mutual respect, mutual understanding, equal treatment and win-win cooperation. This is the basic guarantee for the development of long-term good-neighbourly relations among the SCO member states, as well as a great political advantage.
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Established on January 19, 2013, Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies of Chinese University of China (Renmin University Chongyang) is the main funding project donated by Chongyang Investment to Chinese University and set up an education fund for operation.
As a new type of think tank with Chinese characteristics, Chongyang has hired dozens of former politicians, bankers, and well-known scholars from around the world as senior researchers, aiming to pay attention to reality, advise the country, and serve the people. At present, the Chongyang National People's Congress has 7 departments and 4 operation and management centers (the Center for Ecological Finance, the Center for Global Governance, the Center for China-US People-to-People Exchange, and the China-Russia Center for People-to-People Exchange). In recent years, the Chongyang National People's Congress has been highly recognized at home and abroad in the fields of financial development, global governance, major-country relations, and macroeconomic policy.