Xiplomacy: China-Central Asia cooperation: Palmy past, rosy future

GO GREEN TOGETHER

Maksat Abilgaziev, 33, is a Kazakh born and raised in Zhanatas, a run-down town in the country's south that was once the thriving center of phosphate mining and fertilizer production.

In 2020, Abilgaziev quit his electronic engineering job at a local phosphate mine, and became a wind power engineering trainee at the Chinese-built Zhanatas wind farm, one of the largest of its kind in Central Asia.

"Our Chinese friends have brought equipment, investment, technology and experience to Kazakhstan. They have also cultivated clean energy talents in our country. The wind power projects have created jobs and tax revenues for Zhanatas, bringing the town back to life," rejoiced Abilgaziev, whose income has more than doubled in three years.

The studious and industrious man, now a senior at the wind farm, told Xinhua that it was the dream for a better future that prompted his decision for a career change.

Clean energy, including wind power, is what the future holds for Zhanatas, and Kazakhstan at large and what the future should look like, he said.

"We should pursue the new vision of green development and a way of life and work that is green, low-carbon, circular and sustainable," Chinese President Xi Jinping said at the opening ceremony of the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in May 2017. "We propose the establishment of an international coalition for green development on the Belt and Road, and we will provide support to related countries in adapting to climate change."

To put words into action, China has fully integrated the Belt and Road Initiative with Kazakhstan's "Bright Road" new economic policy, and launched 52 cooperation projects with the Central Asian country, with the Zhanatas wind farm as one of the flagship projects.

Put into operation in 2021 with a capacity of 350 million kWh of electricity annually, the wind farm is expected to save about 110,000 tons of standard coal per year and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, compared with thermal power plants.

Another signature project of green cooperation between China and Central Asia is the 100 MW solar power plant seated in the town of Kapchagay in southeastern Kazakhstan's Almaty Region. The plant, jointly invested and built by a Chinese enterprise and Kazakh partners, is one of the largest photovoltaic power generation projects in the country, reducing carbon emissions by 160,000 tons per year.

"With more green cooperation, I believe that in the future, the sky will be bluer, the water will be clearer, and the earth we live on will be cleaner," said Abilgaziev.