China and Kazakhstan have witnessed an upsurge in people-to-people and cultural exchanges in recent years, a development that Chinese President Xi Jinping hailed in a signed article published in Kazakh media outlets prior to his visit to the central Asian country.
Xi arrived for a state visit to Kazakhstan on Tuesday, where he will also attend the 24th Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
On the same day, the signed article from the Chinese president was published in the Kazakhstanskaya Pravda newspaper and Kazinform International News Agency under the title “Staying True to Our Shared Commitment and Opening a New Chapter in China-Kazakhstan Relations.”
In the article, Xi highlighted the enduring friendship between the Chinese and Kazakh peoples, citing an example involving Chinese musician Xian Xinhai and Kazakh composer Bakhytzhan Baikadamov.
Over 80 years ago, Xian and Baikadamov met and became close and devoted friends despite their different nationalities and languages.
“In 1943, my father happened to meet Xian Xinghai, who was sitting on a box holding a violin. Seeing how helpless and homeless Xian was, my father took his hand and brought him home,” Baikadamova’s daughter Baldyrgan said.
Xi also mentioned the much-respected Kazakh ophthalmologist Saulebek Kabibekov, who treated more than 200,000 patients during his 25-year stay in northeastern China.
There was also a nod to the hugely popular Kazakh singer Dimash Kudaibergen, who took China by storm after he won the second place in a popular reality singing competition, “Singer 2017”, and later had the chance to meet Xi.
“I first met President Xi in 2017. After the performance, he came to me and told me about his impressions [of] my work and musical journey in China. Since then, I’ve been exploring Chinese culture and history which, of course, has inspired me infinitely,” said Kudaibergen.
People-to-people exchanges between the two countries have also become more frequent since mutual visa-exemption arrangements took effect last year, facilitating greater travel between the two sides.
Last year, a total of 600,000 cross-border trips were recorded. In the first quarter of 2024, the number of visits in both directions had already amounted to 200,000 and are expected to reach a new high by the end of the year.
China, Kazakhstan see upsurge in people-to-people, cultural exchanges
The close ties between China and Kazakhstan today can be traced back to the friendly and smooth establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries in 1992, with a former Kazakh official recalling the good “neighborly” relationship which was struck up between the two countries right from the start.
Toleutay Suleimenov, who served as Kazakhstan’s first minister of foreign affairs, shared the story of how ties were initially formed with China in a recent interview with the China Global Television Network (CGTN).
Suleimenov recalled the dawn of Kazakhstan’s independence in the early 90s, saying that establishing diplomatic and economic relations with China was an important historical move for the Kazakh side.
“It was a difficult time, December 1991. It was a so-called parade of sovereignties. The Soviet Union had just collapsed, and we became an independent state. We were on our own, figuring out how to survive. We had no money in the treasury, and all our economic and trade ties were broken. And, of course, we looked around to see who we could establish diplomatic and economic relations with. We turned to our neighbors and chose the People’s Republic of China. First, we share a long border of more than 2,000 kilometers. We had good neighborly relations and no conflicts. We declared independence on December 16th, and by January 3, 1992, the first Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs from China arrived. We held negotiations with him, discussed various aspects, and established diplomatic relations,” he said.
Suleimenov said the process of establishing ties with China went smoothly, thanks largely to the friendly response of the Chinese government, with the two countries soon putting key agreements in place.
“There were hardly any difficulties. Our colleagues from China were very friendly. They welcomed our independence and sovereignty. They expressed a desire to build equal relations in politics, trade, economy, and cultural and humanitarian areas, which we found very appealing. From there, our interactions began and were very productive. I made the first official visit to China as a minister. We signed over 10 bilateral agreements covering economics, trade, cultural exchange, and politics. The Premier of the State Council of China welcomed us,” he said.
Ties between the two countries are in the spotlight as President Xi Jinping arrived in Kazakhstan for a state visit on Tuesday, where he will attend the 24th Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
China, Kazakhstan enjoy “good neighborly relations” ever since establishing ties: former official
