Le Yucheng (乐玉成)

Editor's Note:

Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed the idea of building a Silk Road economic belt during his trip to Kazakhstan last year. Kazakhstan, a major stop along the ancient Silk Road, is critical to the future development of China and the entire Central Asian region. What are the challenges in building the belt? How can a win-win situation between China and Kazakhstan be achieved? Le Yucheng (Le), Chinese ambassador to Kazakhstan, talked to media about his viewpoint on these issues.

Q: If China and Kazakhstan are to mutually benefit from the Silk Road economic belt, what is the most urgent task now and what are the challenges?

Le: Two thousand years ago, the ancient Silk Road contributed to the economic and cultural communication between the East and the West. Nowadays as we witness an increasingly globalized world, the new economic belt, proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping, is set to bring benefit to countries along the belt. This proposal has won support from Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev.

The belt is still at its initial stage. I think the most urgent task now is connecting the roads.

Kazakhstan is an inland country, but it has particularly favorable geopolitical conditions to connect the developed European economy and emerging Asia-Pacific community. To bring this potential into reality, the roads, railways, air routes, pipelines, communication networks and even satellite networks must be connected and unimpeded.

Currently, projects such as the Chongqing-Xinjiang-Europe international railway, the Western Europe-Western China International Transit Corridor and the Lianyungang logistics terminal have had great significance to the building of the belt.

One obstacle is funding. For example, as China invests in basic infrastructure, a large sum of money is needed and it cannot recoup the costs in a short period of time. While China would like to make the utmost effort, the project also needs support and promotion from all sides.

Q: How can China and Kazakhstan complement each other in their bilateral economic cooperation?

Le: The strategic goals of the two countries coincide. China's "two 100-year" goals and Kazakhstan's state development strategy toward 2050 share similar notions in both timing and content, paving the way for deepening their comprehensive strategic partnership.

The two also share the same strategic direction as both pay heed to balanced development.

The notion of the Silk Road economic belt aims to enhance cooperation between Central Asia and China's western region.

As the European economy has been sluggish in the past few years, Kazakhstan has shifted its attention to the vigorous Asia-Pacific region, hoping to benefit from its development with China as a bridge.

Kazakhstan is rich in natural resources, has a favorable investment environment, and has geopolitical advantages. It plays a vital role in China's energy security and westward cooperation.

At the same time, China has funds, technology, labor forces and a complete industrial system, which can help boost Kazakhstan's economic development and people's livelihoods.

All these aspects have laid the foundation for the two countries' pragmatic cooperation.

Q: The ancient Silk Road developed and prospered without any cooperation mechanism. To build the economic belt in current times, how can countries along the belt coordinate?

Le: If we say the ancient Silk Road opened the door for communication between the East and the West, in modern times, the belt is to deepen cooperation among countries involved and bring regional development. This requires the countries involved to be tolerant and reach common ground. We must make use of bilateral cooperation mechanism and multilateral frameworks such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, so as to carry out policies that ensure the roads are linked and people's hearts are connected.

Q: What are the key cooperation projects between China and Kazakhstan? 

Le: The two established diplomatic ties more than 20 years ago, and bilateral relations are developing steadily. There have been achievements out of their pragmatic cooperation. China has become Kazakhstan's largest trading partner, and bilateral trade volume reached $28.6 billion in 2013.

Many big projects have laid foundations for cooperation. For example, the two have cooperated in exploiting resources such as oil and natural gas through the jointly built oil and gas pipelines. This not only brings huge economic benefits to the Kazakh side, but also provides energy assurance for China's national growth.

The Lianyungang logistics terminal that started operation during Nazarbayev's trip to China in May has become a landmark project for China-Kazakhstan cooperation.

The most important aspect of such cooperation is that it has brought real benefits to people's lives. For instance, Kazakh people can have fresh vegetables imported from China, and they can also use the communication networks provided by Chinese companies.

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