Tajikistan and China: a one-sided partnership
On May 20, the PRC and the Republic of Tajikistan signed a joint declaration on establishing strategic partnership relations. This historical The document became a written fixation of the rather close cooperation of the two states, about which the world press writes now almost every day. We are talking about lending to Beijing Dushanbe, and about energy cooperation, and about agriculture, and about projects of international railway lines, and about frequent visits of Emomali Rahmon to the Celestial Empire. By the way, the declaration mentioned above was just signed during the last visit of the President of Tajikistan to China.
I
The Joint Declaration of the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of Tajikistan on the Establishment of Strategic Partnership Relations consists of six long points. It is necessary to dwell on its main components. Without this, Chinese priorities cannot be understood.
Rakhmon’s state visit to the People’s Republic of China was held on 19-20 on May 2013. The President of Tajikistan visited Beijing at the invitation of Xi Jinping. Agency Xinhua Recalls that the last Joint Declaration on the Basic Principles of Relations between the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of Tajikistan was signed on March 9 of 1993. In addition to it, the Treaty of Good Neighborhood, Friendship and Cooperation between China and Tajikistan, signed on January 15 of the year 2007, is also in force. Now the parties decided to expand cooperation to the maximum, bringing it to the level of strategic partnership.
In the first paragraph of the new document, the strategic development of Sino-Tajik relations is called one of the priority directions of the foreign policy of the two countries. Among the common components of cooperation are listed here: ensuring mutual security, mutual respect, equality, trust, countering global threats and challenges, strengthening regional stability, expanding cooperation in political, economic and humanitarian spheres. It also clarifies that the parties undertake to "strictly abide by the provisions of the Agreement between the People's Republic of China and the Republic of Tajikistan on the Sino-Tajik state border of 13 August 1999, the Supplementary Agreement between the People's Republic of Tajikistan and the Republic of Tajikistan on the Sino-Tajik state border of 17 May 2002 Protocol between the Government of the People’s Republic of China and the Government of the Republic of Tajikistan on the Demarcation of the Sino-Tajik Border dated 27 on April 2010, espechivaya further maintenance of eternal peace and friendship from generation to generation. "
Tajikistan has documented “commitment to the one-China policy.” Among other things, this means that Tajikistan considers Taiwan to be an integral part of China and supports the “important cause of the peaceful reunification of China.”
The second point is devoted to geography. The parties agreed that they should “fully take advantage of the geographical proximity and economic complementarity”. Using these very advantages, the PRC and the RT will begin “to promote the sustainable and intensive development of economic cooperation between the two countries through the active promotion and implementation of relevant projects.” It is about improving the climate in trade and investment, creating favorable conditions for the importation of goods, services, equipment, technology, etc. The following is also reported on the deepening of financial cooperation.
A separate paragraph describes the promotion of cooperation in the transport sector. It says not only about simplifying visa procedures, but also about the implementation of projects by rail and road construction. The parties are clearly going to "step by step promote the construction of the Chinese-Tajik highway, improving the infrastructure at the Karasu-Kulma checkpoint, striving to implement year-round work of the checkpoint in the near future." (As we see, these are far from general statements typical of such declarations).
As for mineral resources, the parties will intensify joint exploration and development work, as well as expand cooperation in the field of energy production. The planned expansion of the electric power infrastructure of China and Tajikistan is also reported, including the resolution of the issues of creating the possibility of supplying electricity to the western regions of China. The issue of creating power equipment repair enterprises in Tajikistan will also be considered.
The Chinese plan to actively develop agriculture in the territory of their neighbor. Mentioned are also cooperation projects in the field of agricultural technologies in Tajikistan, and the expansion of cooperation in the production of agricultural machinery, agricultural processing, land reclamation, cultivation of varietal seeds, and the exchange of technical personnel in the field of fish farming, agriculture, etc.
Regarding the borders, there are hints of expanding cooperation in border areas. It is about strengthening cooperation "Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China with the border areas of the Republic of Tajikistan."
In the third paragraph of the declaration, the parties declare a joint fight against terrorism and separatism - based on the Shanghai Convention on Combating Terrorism, Separatism and Extremism, signed on June 15, 2001, and the Agreement between the PRC and the Republic of Tajikistan on cooperation in the fight against terrorism, separatism and extremism on 2 September 2003 of the year. Also, the PRC and the RT will fight drug trafficking.
The fourth paragraph is devoted to aspects of cultural and humanitarian cooperation. Here we are talking about the consolidation of "centuries-old friendship between China and Tajikistan." The parties will strengthen the exchange and cooperation in the field of culture, education, tourism, health and sports; expand friendly contacts between the media, research institutions, art groups and youth organizations.
The dynamic development of cooperation between China and Tajikistan in the field of education was also noted. China welcomes the training of students in Tajikistan in their universities and confirms their readiness to provide state scholarship to successful Tajik students studying in China. (So, among other things, future agents are also preparing, we will note in brackets. Among the most "successful" ones).
The fifth paragraph of the declaration states that the parties oppose the interference of external forces in the internal affairs of the countries of Central Asia under any pretexts. The parties also stress the importance of realizing peace and stability in Afghanistan.
The sixth paragraph states that the UN must continue to play a central role in maintaining peace in the world. The two sides were unanimous in the fact that the Shanghai Cooperation Organization plays an important role in the protection of regional security and in strengthening mutually beneficial cooperation between member states.
Having subscribed to these significant points, Emomali Rakhmon invited Xi Jinping to visit the Republic of Tajikistan. The invitation was gratefully accepted.
And now - a few numbers and projects.
II
According to the Tajik Information Service "Avesta"China is currently the main creditor of Tajikistan. According to the Ministry of Finance of Tajikistan, the share of China accounts for 41% of the total external debt of the republic.
The total amount of foreign debt of Tajikistan on 1 in April of the current year amounted to 2 billion 125,7 million, of which 862 million $ falls to the PRC. According to a source, the World Bank (17% of total external debt) and the Asian Development Bank (15%) are also among the main creditors of Tajikistan.
The Tajik Ministry of Finance also noted that the Republic of Tajikistan offered the Celestial Empire to study several investment projects. They suggest loan financing. We are talking about projects in the field of transport communications, more precisely, the construction of railways and bridges. In case of approval of the proposed projects and allocation of funds for them, the share of the Chinese loan in the external debt of Tajikistan may exceed 50%.
3 June is the same "Avesta" spoke about the meeting with students, which was held by the Ambassador of Tajikistan in China Rashid Alimov. He spoke with the students of NORTH CHINA Electric Power University, one of the largest universities in China that train people for the energy sector of the Chinese economy.
The ambassador informed the future engineers and power engineers on the outcome of the talks between the leaders of the two neighboring states and the joint declaration signed during the visit. Alimov paid special attention to the emerging prospects of bilateral trade and economic cooperation, particularly in the energy sector.
It was not by chance that the ambassador chose the energy university. He said:
“With the support of the Chinese government in Tajikistan, a unified national energy system has been created. Tajikistan has the richest hydropower resources in Central Asia and is interested in Chinese companies, along with Russian and Iranian, more actively participating in the construction of medium and small hydropower plants on the country's inland rivers.
The existing potential allows producing a significant amount of electricity both for domestic needs and for export, including the rapidly developing western regions of China. ”
The existing potential allows producing a significant amount of electricity both for domestic needs and for export, including the rapidly developing western regions of China. ”
The Ambassador further stressed that “the joint development of the hydropower potential of Tajikistan can be considered as an important factor for both domestic and regional economic growth and development”.
As for the projects in the field of agriculture, they were discussed before the signing of the strategic document. National Information Agency of Tajikistan "Khovar" reports that on May 13 in Dushanbe a meeting of the First Deputy Minister of Agriculture of the Republic of Tajikistan S. Rustamov with an expert group of the PRC led by Chen Nechuan was held. The meeting participants discussed issues related to the export of products. This year, Tajik fruits and vegetables may appear on the shelves of Chinese supermarkets.
Viktoriya Panfilova told about Chinese railway projects related to Tajikistan ("Echo of the Planet").
Both China and Tajikistan are interested in building a road connecting its border regions with Central Asia. RT has only one branch through Uzbekistan with the entire post-Soviet space, and Dushanbe’s relations with Tashkent are complex, and the road periodically stops working in Uzbek territory. Dushanbe has repeatedly stated the need to build new railway lines that are not dependent on Uzbekistan, but in 22 of the year, it was not able to achieve the implementation of its plans.
But then a strategic partner, China, appeared. And Dushanbe could join the project of China-Afghanistan-Iran international railway. The Tajik authorities hoped that it would run through Tajik territory and ordered the Iranian company Metro to carry out a feasibility study for the site. However, in early February, it became known that the project included Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan was excluded from the list of participants. Building a road through Uzbekistan with a simpler landscape and extensive infrastructure turned out to be less expensive. The project is financed by China, and Uzbekistan, for him, turns out to be more interesting from an economic point of view than Tajikistan.
This information complements the Tajik "Avesta". It turns out that the preliminary economic assessment of the Tajik section of the Kashgar-Herat international railway project is ongoing. According to the Ministry of Transport of Tajikistan, nobody canceled work on this project. The company "Metro" continues to determine the route of the railway, the approximate cost and feasibility of the project for RT.
The source noted: “This project is necessary for Tajikistan, therefore, regardless of the implementation of other alternative projects (Kyrgyzstan - Uzbekistan, approx. Author of the report), it will be implemented when finding the necessary funds. The project will allow Tajikistan to dock with the railways of Kyrgyzstan, China, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan and Iran. ”
According to the available preliminary data, the total length of the Kashgar-Herat railroad junction (China-Kyrgyzstan-Tajikistan-Afghanistan) is 1972 kilometers. In Tajikistan, the length of the railway will be 392 kilometers.
According to the Ministry of Transport and Communications, more than 3,5 billion will be required for the implementation of the Tajik sector.
The Tajik side considered China to be the main participant in this railway project. However, he, as stated in Bishkek in February, made a choice in favor of another alternative project (China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan) proposed by the Uzbek side.
It is not at all a big question how China will act with its strategic partners in Central Asia. From the railway project described it is clear that China will do what is more profitable for it. Moreover, it is not China that depends on the Republic of Tajikistan, but on the contrary - Tajikistan depends on the Middle Kingdom. Benefits and loans - the main thing weapon economic expansion of China in the Asian region. That is why the Chinese so easily chop off parts of the territory of Tajikistan and enter the PLA fighters there - just for debt. Despite written statements about the observance of the Sino-Tajik state border. Geopolitics generally shows well not only the fragility of boundaries, but also the fragility of the map of the world itself.
IA "REGNUM" reminds that Tajikistan approved the transfer of the PRC of part of the territory in January 2011, when the parliament of the republic ratified the protocol on the demarcation of the border with the PRC, according to which 1,1, thousand sq. km of disputed territories. The official land transfer ceremony took place in the autumn of the same year. The area of China grew by 1158 square kilometers, and the territory of Tajikistan decreased by 1%.
That is why in 2013, you can easily sign declarations that mention boundaries. For the same reason, you can give loans to Tajiks. Do not give up? Ottyapaem another piece - legally, we will sign the paper, let's talk over a cup of wine about the "centuries-old friendship." New frontier posts and a few machine gunners can frighten the world press so much that it will compose tales of occupation. It would be better for journalists to think that the Chinese themselves quite peacefully - economic, very much like a strategic one - have already occupied Tajikistan by the very least do not indulge.
Everything that the Chinese build and carry out in the Republic of Tajikistan is not done by the Tajik workers. Not only because they simply do not have the necessary qualifications. The Chinese do not want them to work: Beijing needs to attach its working hands, not Tajik ones. All these highways, bridges, power facilities, mentioned in the joint declaration and its annexes, will also be built by Chinese firms. Of course, by their own Chinese forces: from engineers to unskilled workers. As for the Tajiks, they will collect their fruits and repay the territory for external debts; this is where their “partner” role in the play with the Celestial Empire ends.
By the way, such an expansion of the PRC to Tajikistan is not special. Exactly the same way the Chinese do with the countries of Africa: they suck out mineral resources from there on their own. According to the Financial Times, from 2000 to 2012. African countries trade with China grew 20 times and reached 200 billion dollars. However, the share of industrial production in the continent's GDP fell from 12,8% to 10,5%. Alexander Bondarenko ("But") writes that in 2009, the PRC reset the import duty on 95% of goods from the poorest countries of the Black Continent, and in exchange the Chinese got access to the subsoil. In Namibia, Liberia, Cameroon, Mozambique, they are already expressing their dissatisfaction with the massive deforestation, the wood of which is used to develop the Chinese furniture industry. In Zambia, workers in Chinese copper mines are rioting. Even in South Africa, a member of the BRICS, Chinese cheap textiles have undermined the position of the local textile industry. However, we add that South Africa is admitted to BRICS at the insistence of China. This is also a kind of “exchange”, the result of “partnership”. Yes, only China gives the characters, and gets a real benefit. Skillful manipulation of consciousness in a postmodern society.
A. Bondarenko cites material from the Financial Times, written by the General Manager of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Lamido Sanusi. The author calls on African countries to reconsider the "romantic" attitude towards China. “China buys raw materials from us and sells goods to us. But this is precisely the essence of colonialism, ”he writes. - The epoch of the Non-Aligned Movement, which united us after the break with the metropolises, is over. China has ceased to be the same developing country - now it is the second economy of the world, capable of the same forms of economic exploitation as the West. His economic policy contributes significantly to the deindustrialization and underdevelopment of the continent. ” The author also emphasizes that the PRC is building infrastructure on the continent solely through its own specialists. Sanusi sees a way out in investment in education and in building infrastructure with his own, that is, African forces.
That's exactly the same with Tajikistan. Only in the latter the situation is greatly complicated by the underdevelopment of the economy, the lean budget and the large external debt - of which soon half will fall on China. It turns out that the policy of Mr. Rakhmon is aimed precisely at increasing dependence on the Middle Kingdom. One percent of the territory moved to China? Let's see what will happen tomorrow.
Everything that is beneficial for China in Tajikistan will be implemented in full and with acceleration. In conclusion, here are the latest figures announced at the signing of the joint declaration mentioned above.
They are brought by Alexander Kondrashin (Kommersant). First of all, these are agreements on a loan in 140 million, which China will provide to increase the capacity of the Zarafshon gold mining enterprise at the Sino-Tajik border. (It is no secret that China buys gold around the world). Secondly, the Amonatbonk savings bank of Tajikistan and the State Development Bank of China will finance the reconstruction of the Regar substation. Thirdly, an agreement was signed between the Ministry of Energy and Industry of Tajikistan and the Chinese company Dong Ying Heli on the construction of an oil refinery in the south of the country. It is assumed that there will be about 1,2 million tons of oil processed per year. This project will be implemented within the framework of the National Program for the Development of the Oil and Gas Industry up to 2030 of the Year, which envisages both increasing hydrocarbon production in Tajikistan and improving the quality of their processing. The main goal of the Chinese is to reduce dependence on imported fuel from Russia, the journalist said. These agreements will strengthen Beijing’s presence in its neighbor’s economy, in which the share of Chinese investment already makes up almost 40%.
In parallel, it should be added, China will seriously strengthen in Central Asia, thereby weakening Russia's position there.
Observed and commented on Oleg Chuvakin
- especially for topwar.ru
- especially for topwar.ru
Information