Gas supplies on agenda as 30 years of Kazakh ties marked
Talks between Li and PM of Central Asian nation put spotlight on trade, energy and investment
China commended energy cooperation and the importance of gas supplies from Kazakhstan during the first high-level meetings between the two nations since President Xi Jinping visited the neighbouring country, his first trip abroad since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Premier Li Keqiang and Kazakh Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov met by video link on Tuesday, where the two sides marked 30 years of bilateral ties and pledged to strengthen cooperation in trade, energy and investment.
“Energy cooperation is the cornerstone of pragmatic cooperation between the two countries. It is hoped that Kazakhstan will ensure a stable gas supply to China in accordance with the contract and increase gas supply during winter as much as possible,” Li said, according to China’s foreign ministry.
China, like Japan and South Korea, is a major importer of natural gas. Amid an escalating global energy crisis, the countries have been scrambling to stockpile various sources of fuel ahead of the colder winter months.
A spokesman with China’s top economic planner, the National Development and Reform Commission, said supplies of natural gas might be tight during peak winter periods or in colder regions, but were “generally guaranteed”.
Customs data shows China had continued to import energy from Russia, the largest regional exporter, and the commission would support increased production from upstream firms. Russia on Tuesday hinted at a potential “gas union” with Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan to coordinate supplies and advance shipments among the three countries, and to other buyers, including China.
Li said China was willing to
import more agricultural and livestock products from Kazakhstan. Cooperation on finance and e-commerce should also be explored, Li said, as he called for trade pacts to be signed and implemented, improvements in cross-border connectivity and increased trade volume.
According to China’s foreign ministry, bilateral trade grew almost seventyfold from US$368 million in 1992, when diplomatic relations between the two countries were established, to US$25.3 billion in 2021.
Swaran Singh, an Asian affairs expert and visiting political science professor at the University of British Columbia, said many geopolitical factors had motivated Beijing to reinforce ties with its Central Asian neighbours.
“With the Ukraine war, the world faces continuing shortages and price rises in energy supplies which worries China, the world’s largest energy importing nation, [and] also its major suppliers,” Singh said, adding that Beijing’s commitments to carbon neutrality by 2060 and its planned shift towards renewable energy had also added pressure.
Singh, also an adjunct fellow at the Charhar Institute, an independent international relations think tank, said Kazakhstan was “the most critical link” between China’s railways and those of Central Asia and Europe.