You have not shown any proof that Saudis feel threat from Turks. Where does that even come from?
Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and Global South strategic cooperation
- Thread starter Strangelove
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Saudi Arabia's perception of threat from Iran is far far greater than any threat it might feel from Turkey
The Duran has a good look at the Turkey election
I think there is little doubt Erdogan will approach China for warmer ties. No need for China to do anything other than making deals toward its own interests.
Another big deal is China's gain influence in Latin America.
if Brazil and Argentina buy weapons from China, it would be a big deal. But let's hope they can make some in road toward Colombia under the Gustavo Petro administration.
Another big deal is China's gain influence in Latin America.
if Brazil and Argentina buy weapons from China, it would be a big deal. But let's hope they can make some in road toward Colombia under the Gustavo Petro administration.
Summit sets eyes on greater economic, security cooperation with Central Asia
By Wen Sheng Published: May 16, 2023 03:41 PM
China + Central Asia (C+C5) Photo: VCG
For the first time in over 30 years the top leaders from China and the five Central Asian countries - Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan - will meet in person to discuss their burgeoning nation-nation ties and how to enter a new era of closer trade, economic, political and security cooperation.
It is of historic importance and global significance for the six-nation summit to be held in northwestern China's Xi'an city, where the ancient Silk Road first began about 1,600 years ago in the Tang Dynasty.
The summit meeting is already attracting global attention, as the meeting will have a positive effect and profound implications on the long-term and strategic partnership between China and the five Central Asian nations, whose market economy is rapidly emerging.
Possibly, a new and more effective format of partnership would be sought and found to integrate the Central Asian region with China's huge dynamic economy and its burgeoning consumer market. Both China and Central Asia region are deemed the driving force of the global economy.
Central Asia is expected to see even greater gains through closer economic ties with China as the region seeks to lift up living standards. Will Central Asia retake a key role at the center of the massive Eurasian landmass? The answer is yes. China and the Central Asia share traditional friendship and a lot of common interests, and their cooperation and partnership will not only bring even great benefits to the involved countries, but also serve the global good.
According to a Silk Road Briefing held last month, Chinese investments in Central Asia region as of the end of 2021 neared $40 billion annually, which is expected to keep edging up over the coming years, Chinese experts say.
The China-Kazakhstan Horgos International Border Cooperation Center and the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan Railway are exemplary of the cooperation, as the center opens up a wide range of opportunities for the Kazakh people to conduct business and purchase duty-free goods in a convenient way.
This year marks the 10th anniversary of China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative. Over the last 10 years, Central Asia has become a demonstration zone of how the BRI was first agreed and implemented in the region, which later led to broad win-win results, including a long list of infrastructure connectivity projects, which assisted the landlocked region in becoming better linked with the outside world. Long term cooperation has also been characterized by a high degree of their economic complementarity as China is already the world's largest manufacturing center.
Tajikistan was the first country in the world to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with China on building the Silk Road Economic Belt, and to date, all the five Central Asia countries have joined the initiative. The summit meeting will inevitably lead to the elevation of China and Central Asian countries' relations.
Over the past decade, mutual trust between people of Central Asia and China has been constantly accelerated and strengthened, laying a solid foundation for a closer and more engaging BRI partnership in all aspects as all parties push toward high-quality economic development, against the backdrop of rising global volatility.
The Central Asia region is an important logistics channel linking China's huge make with Central Asia, the Middle East and Europe, and is a key passage way for the China-Europe Freight Train service. In assessing geographic strategy, China and the five countries are natural partners and they are obliged to support one another on the global stage.
Chinese analysts point out that the China-Central Asia Summit will provide new impetus for the high-quality implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative. One of the key aspects of the cooperation is the development of a program, called "Green Silk Road" that is the use of green development technology, innovative solutions and advanced technologies to achieve environmental efficiency and sustainability - erecting the region into a highland of global low-carbon growth.
Following the summit, a growing number of major Chinese State-owned enterprises will be motivated to play a pivotal role in leading the construction of more advanced infrastructure connectivity projects in Central Asian countries, expressways and modern railways that meet the demands of local conditions.
For an example, China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation has stated that it will join forces with local companies to build a railway tunnel and giant bridge for Vahdat-Yavan Railway in Tajikistan. The rail link is an important part of the international rail network linking China to Central Asia, Afghanistan and Iran.
Energy and resources cooperation is another focal point of cooperation, as exemplified by the China-Central Asia Gas Pipeline. The line is China's first transnational natural gas transmission pipeline, and last year, it supplied more than 43 billion cubic meters of natural gas to China.
Cooperation on security issues will be another prominent topic during the summit considering the risks and security challenges arising from the US' hasty withdrawal from Afghanistan and an increasingly volatile world, including the US government's trade protectionism, monetary policy recklessness, and the deepening conflict in Ukraine which originated from NATO's provocative eastern expansion.
I have shown continuous Greece Saudi military drills many time. Saudis wouldn't do this just for fun, the propose is clearly about turkey. Also there were other countries joining which mostly hostile to turkey. You just in the state of denials.
Not after the mediation by china. Iran now divert attention to Azerbaijan and Afghanistan while maintain hostilities with Israel.
America does drills with a bunch of countries in southeast Asia that are quite close to China like Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia & Indonesia. Are these countries all suddenly hostile to China?
Can you actually show some real proof that Saudi Arabia and Turkey are in bad terms? Or even better, why don't you show Saudi Arabia is in worse terms with Turkey than it was with Iran
Those drill isn't near china. Greece Saudis drills are on eastern aegean.
General staff meeting is very huge. I haven't seen Saudis did this with Turks in recent years.
China-Central Asia Summit to witness signing of a slew of documents in trade, investment, connectivity and other fields: official
Landmark gathering to inject impetus into high-quality BRI cooperation
By GT staff reporters Published: May 16, 2023 10:13 PM
China + Central Asia (C+C5) Photo: VCG
Tourists take photos with an installation of the China-Central Asia Summit in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province on May 16, 2023. The summit is set to take place on May 18 and 19. Photo: Xinhua
With the China-Central Asia Summit drawing closer, Xi'an has demonstrated its hospitality in full swing to welcome visiting guests from Central Asian countries and deep friendship between China and the five countries. Chinese officials said leaders of the six countries will exchange views on establishing mechanisms, cooperation and international, regional issues with respective concerns, as well as signing a slew of important political documents on trade, investment, connectivity and other areas.
Experts believe China's cooperation with Central Asian countries, based on win-win results and mutual respect, can be seen as a paragon of international relationship in the new era. Unlike the US engaging with Central Asia to pursue selfish purposes, China's collaboration with regional countries do not target any third party, nor aim to compete with others, they said.
National flags of China and five Central Asian countries were planted alongside airport highway in intervals, and banners saying "build a closer China-Central Asia community with a shared future" in both Chinese and Russian, can be seen at overpasses in the city.
The summit is the first major diplomatic activity that China hosts this year, and also the first summit held offline by the heads of state of the six countries since the establishment of diplomatic ties 31 years ago. The event is a historic milestone in the development of relations between China and Central Asian countries.
At the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev of Kazakhstan, President Sadyr Japarov of Kyrgyzstan, President Emomali Rahmon of Tajikistan and President Shavkat Mirziyoyev of Uzbekistan will pay state visits to China respectively from Tuesday to Saturday this week.
Yu Jun, deputy director-general of the Chinese foreign ministry's Department of European-Central Asian Affairs, said at a Tuesday press briefing that Xi will deliver a keynote speech at the summit, expounding on China's stance on how to construct China-Central Asia community with a shared future , eyeing long-term development for cooperation between the six countries, putting forward series of propositions and announcing multiple pragmatic measures and actions.
Yu said nearly 20 bilateral and multilateral activities will be held during the two-day summit. At the summit, leaders will exchange their views on establishment of mechanism, cooperation and international, regional issues of respective concerns. Leaders of the six countries are expected to sign a slew of important political documents on areas such as economic, trade and connectivity, said Yu, adding that President Xi and his wife will also hold a special welcoming ceremony and grand dinner for the leaders and wives of the five countries.
China's cooperation with Central Asia does not target any third party and China-Central Asia cooperation mechanism does not aim to compete with other mechanisms, said Yu. China supports anything that is truly beneficial for the region's development, and helps the common prosperity of the region, Yu noted.
Breakthroughs in cooperation
The summit will further consolidate the consensus of China and Central Asian countries to build together a high-quality Belt and Road, said Wang Wenbin, spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry at a Tuesday briefing. "We believed at Xi'an, the starting point of ancient Silk Road, China and Central Asian countries will make the ancient road come to new life via the China-Central Asia Summit, and make greater contribution to the construction of a closer China-Central Asia community with a shared future," said Wang.
At a press conference on Tuesday, Sun Wensheng, deputy head of the Civil Aviation Administration of China's (CAAC) general department, said that CAAC and the five countries of Central Asia are discussing and preparing to sign a Memorandum of Understanding to jointly develop an "Air Silk Road." They are also working together to create regulations and improve the quality and efficiency of their cooperation in the civil aviation field.
The CAAC is also encouraging airlines to open and add more flights between China and Central Asia. Currently, 10 airlines are operating flights between the two regions.
Chinese observers said the summit will witness new breakthrough in economic and trade cooperation between China and Central Asian countries.
"Central Asia's strategic importance has become more prominent as China upped the construction of the Belt and Road Initiative, and those countries are playing an increasingly important role in China's diplomatic strategy. Moreover, Central Asian countries are eager to cooperate with China to boost their long-term development," Li Yongquan, director of the Eurasian Social Development Research at the Development Research Center of the State Council, told the Global Times.
China's trade with the five Central Asian countries reached $70 billion in 2022 and recorded a year-on-year expansion of 22 percent in the first quarter of this year, Shu Jueting, spokesperson for China's Ministry of Commerce, said last month.
Zhu Yongbiao, executive director of the Research Center for the Belt and Road at Lanzhou University, told the Global Times that after this summit, the connectivity between China and Central Asia will be further elevated, which will benefit both economic trade between China and the region, and also lift Central Asia's geopolitical status.
Cooperation with Central Asia will also help China to further collaborate with countries in South, West Asia, as well as Caucasus region. The extended cooperation, according to Zhu, will inject vitality and stability to the region's growth during the post-pandemic era.
Experts also believe the summit will emphasize on security, an area China and Central Asian countries have closely cooperated on for years. Qian Feng, director of the research department at the National Strategy Institute at Tsinghua University told the Global Times that he expects the six countries to reach more consensus on how to help in resolving the Ukraine crisis and address Afghanistan concerns, as "Central Asian countries share and support China's proposition on solving the Russia-Ukraine crisis, as well as dealing with the spillover of the Afghanistan issue."
New model of international relation
As China's ties with Central Asia are heating up, the US is also seeking to engage closely with the region amid the Russia-Ukraine crisis. Observers debunked US'sudden interest in the region, saying it wants to sow discord between China, Russia and the five Central Asian countries, as well as to secure its own interest when Washington's influence in the region diminished after hasty withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Earlier this year, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, where he signaled that Washington is changing tack in the region. US officials have said the Biden administration is seeking to step up engagement with the region, especially for countries facing an economic fallout from the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Although the US is striving to pull over Central Asia countries, those countries are always adopting diverse and balanced diplomacy, which China understands, said Zhu. "The cooperation China has with Central Asia is based on win-win result, transparency and mutual trust, respect, thus no matter how Western countries smear and sow discord, it won't affect China's ties with the region."
After the fourth China-Central Asia Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Xi'an last month, the foreign ministers reached a consensus that all parties reiterated their respect for respective choice of a development path suitable to their own national conditions, firm mutual support on issues concerning each other's core interests, stern opposition to external interference in internal affairs, and resolute rejection of any individual or any force creating chaos and turbulence in Central Asia.
Li said that compared with the US, whose diplomatic policy is pivoted around serving its own interest first, and keen to foment dissension, China's relationship with Central Asian countries is the paragon of health international relations. Convening the China-Central Asia Summit demonstrated high recognition between China and Central Asian countries regarding the bilateral ties, and will usher in a new era of closer cooperation and relations, Li noted.
That's because Greece is right next to turkey. Where else do you think they are going to hold the drill?
Why dont you post actual poll data or real comments that says Saudis are not on at least ok terms with turkey?
Now that Erdogan looks like he will win, we will see how western press try to walk back all the stories of how turkey is terrible. Maybe we will see a color revolution attempted, who knows?