May China-Kyrgyzstan Friendship Thrive Like an Evergreen Tree.

Strewn with blooming flowers and lush grass, the Tianshan Mountains offer an enchanting view at this time of the year. I am pleased that in such a lovely season, I will come to Kyrgyzstan at the kind invitation of President Sooronbay Jeenbekov to make my second state visit and attend the 19th Meeting of the Council of Heads of Member States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). I first visited this beautiful country six years ago.

The discussions I had with Kyrgyz leaders on the friendship and cooperation between our two countries and on the future growth of the China-Kyrgyzstan relationship ushered this relationship into a new era of strategic partnership. Now six years on, it is heartening to see that this relationship has been upgraded further to a comprehensive strategic partnership, and that our friendship and cooperation are brimming with vigor and vitality like the mountains and grasslands in the prime of summer.

The people of China and Kyrgyzstan are close neighbors sharing a long tradition of friendship. More than 2,000 years ago, Zhang Qian, the imperial envoy of China's Han Dynasty, traveled west and extended the ancient Silk Road to Central Asia via the ancient city of Suyab (near present-day Tokmok). That visit was reciprocated several hundred years later by Kyrgyz envoys trudging all the way to Chang'an, the capital of the Tang Dynasty. On their return trip, they brought back not only exquisite silk and porcelain but also a brotherly friendship. The great poet Li Bai, living some 1,300 years ago in the Tang Dynasty, is a household name in our two countries and his poems are widely quoted by the Chinese and Kyrgyz alike.

In the course of over two millennia, interactions like these have forged an unbreakable bond of amity between our peoples.Since the establishment of diplomatic ties, China Kyrgyzstan relations have withstood the vicissitudes of the international landscape. The solidarity and mutual assistance that we have demonstrated in times of difficulty have proven that we are good neighbors, good friends, good partners, and good brothers. As a fine example of a new type of state-to-state relations featuring mutual respect, equality and win-win cooperation, the China-Kyrgyzstan relationship is defined by the following features: -- Stronger mutual political trust. Shortly after the establishment of diplomatic ties, we found lasting solutions to all boundary issues left from history, turning the 1,000-km border line...

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