Lianbo｜Why is the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan Railway called a strategic project?

△On June 6, the signing ceremony of the intergovernmental agreement between the three countries on the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway project was held in Beijing. President Xi Jinping congratulated the signing of the agreement via video.

On June 6, the signing ceremony of the intergovernmental agreement between the three countries on the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway project was held in Beijing. President Xi Jinping congratulated the signing of the agreement via video. He said that the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan Railway is a strategic project for interconnection between China and Central Asia.

Why build the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan Railway? Why is it called a strategic project?

Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan are both landlocked countries. The means of communication with China include roads and planes, but there is no railway. If goods from Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan want to be transported to China, they must be transferred via the railway in Kazakhstan, which not only takes a detour, but also pays transit fees.

For landlocked countries, railway transportation has large volume and low cost, and has advantages that cannot be matched by roads and aviation. Today, China, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan have signed an intergovernmental agreement. This railway starts from Kashgar, Xinjiang, and enters Uzbekistan via Kyrgyzstan. It can be extended to West Asia and South Asia in the future. Once completed, it will greatly promote the interconnection among the three countries and drive regional economic and social realization. Develop faster.

It can be seen that the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan Railway is not just a simple transportation line, but also has great geo-economic value.

After the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan Railway is completed, it will become the shortest land passage connecting China and Central Asian countries. From East Asia to the Middle East and Southern Europe, the railway transportation distance will be shortened by about 900 kilometers compared with the current level, saving 7 to 8 days.

Take Kyrgyzstan, which has extremely underdeveloped railways and basically relies on roads for cargo transportation. After the completion of the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan Railway, it will not only optimize its domestic transportation infrastructure, enhance railway transportation capacity, increase cargo throughput, and quickly promote the development of the country's transportation industry, It can also increase the speed at which the country’s products enter neighboring countries. According to calculations by Kyrgyzstan economic experts, after the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway is completed, Kyrgyzstan’s annual freight volume is expected to reach 13 million tons, and it can make a profit of US$200 million a year from transit freight revenue alone.

△On February 27, 2016, a special train stopped at the entrance of the Gamchik Tunnel on the Angren-Pabu Railway in Uzbekistan. The Gamchik Tunnel is an important part of the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan Railway and is of great significance to promoting Uzbekistan’s economic and social development and the implementation of the joint construction of the “Belt and Road” initiative.

For Uzbekistan, a landlocked country in central Asia, after the completion of the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway, Uzbekistan's transportation network will be greatly expanded, and goods transportation with China will not have to pass through Kazakhstan. At the same time, Uzbekistan can leverage the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan Railway to build a new integrated economic corridor, reduce the cost of imported and exported goods, and enhance regional economic competitiveness.

As far as China is concerned, the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan Railway will not only add a new land-based international channel to Xinjiang, but will also change the transportation pattern in western my country. It will become a new growth pole for Xinjiang's economic development and social construction in the future, and will also promote the release of various effective resource potentials in Xinjiang and even the entire western part of my country's economic territory.

At the same time, neighboring countries can also strengthen inter-country and inter-regional trade through the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan Railway, increase employment opportunities, obtain more income dividends, and improve the well-being of the people.

China is the world's largest oil and gas importer. According to statistics, China imports more than 5 million barrels of crude oil from Arab countries every day, accounting for about half of China's total crude oil imports.

Energy security is related to the overall economic and social development. On May 30, 2024, President Xi Jinping proposed at the opening ceremony of the 10th Ministerial Conference of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum that China is willing to build "five major cooperation patterns" with Afghanistan, the third of which is to build a more three-dimensional energy cooperation pattern.

Energy import channels must not only ensure diversification, but also ensure the stability and safety of transportation lines.

After the completion of the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan Railway, it will become a new transportation line from Asia to Europe and the Persian Gulf countries, which will be conducive to the development and utilization of oil in Central Asia and the Caspian Sea. It is of great significance to opening up new sources of oil imports for my country and adjusting my country's energy development strategy. In addition, China has a more efficient and safer transportation route to import energy from the Middle East.

In recent years, with the complex evolution of the international situation and the rapid development of China-Uzbekistan and China-Kyrgyzstan relations, negotiations on the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway construction project have made positive progress one after another.

The signing of the intergovernmental agreement between the three countries on the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway project also demonstrated to the international community the determination of the three countries to work together to promote cooperation and seek development together. As President Xi said, "China is willing to work with Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan to make persistent efforts to make preparations for the launch of project construction and to build this strategic channel at an early date that will benefit the three countries and their people and boost regional economic and social development."

From a higher level, there are three main land routes connecting China and Europe: eastern, central and western. The eastern and central corridors exit from Manzhouli, Erenhot and Suifenhe ports, and finally reach Europe via Russia and Poland. After the completion of the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan Railway, it will be more conducive to improving the transportation network of the Eurasian continent, tapping the economic potential of neighboring countries, and creating new cooperation opportunities. The China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan Railway is expected to become a new link radiating to surrounding areas.