BEIJING — Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi made security cooperation a central theme in back-to-back meetings with his counterparts from Belarus and Uzbekistan, according to two statements released Friday by China’s foreign ministry.
Wang sat down with Belarus’ Maxim Ryzhenkov and Uzbekistan’s Bakhtiyor Saidov on Thursday evening in Bishkek, on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s foreign ministers’ gathering.
In his meeting with Ryzhenkov, Wang expressed appreciation for Belarus having “unswervingly stood” by China on matters tied to China’s core interests. The two sides discussed bolstering security cooperation and moving forward with plans to establish a development bank. The meeting concluded with both countries signing a 2026-2027 consultation plan between their respective foreign ministries.
Turning to his conversation with Uzbekistan’s Saidov, Wang called for more large-scale industrialization projects and pushed for continued progress on the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway initiative. Both nations agreed to make better use of their existing joint law enforcement and security cooperation framework.
Wang also stressed the importance of greater solidarity and collaboration within multilateral organizations, including the United Nations, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, and the China-Central Asia mechanism.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation is a ten-member Eurasian bloc that includes China, Russia, India, Pakistan, and several Central Asian nations.
