Kyrgyzstan, China's neighbor linked by mountains and rivers, is this year's rotating chair of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).

Although the two countries are geographically very close, the Chinese public as a whole seems far less familiar with this western neighbor than with Japan and South Korea to the east. For some, their impression of the country may be limited to the idea that the legendary poet Li Bai might have been born in Suyab city over a thousand years ago. What is Kyrgyzstan like today? How do local people view China? In late May, a team of Global Times reporters visited Bishkek, capital of Kyrgyzstan. What left the deepest impression was not only the snow-capped mountains visible almost everywhere in the city, but also China-related signs throughout the journey, as well as the positive and optimistic attitudes shown by local residents and Chinese people living there when talking about relations between the two countries.

Li Bai, Suyab and Tokmok

Driving east from Bishkek toward Issyk-Kul Lake for a little over an hour brings you to Tokmok, a town in the Chuy Valley. It is a must-visit destination for many Chinese travelers to Kyrgyzstan, because it is home to the ruins of an ancient city known as Ak-Beshim, which is listed as a World Cultural Heritage site. Chinese visitors know it better by its Chinese name, Suiyecheng or Suyab, and many believe it was the birthplace of Li Bai.

"My Chinese name is Li Bai," 28-year-old Kyrgyz tour guide Mitrofanov Leonid Dmitrievich told the Global Times. He spoke excellent Chinese and had spent many years studying and living in Xiamen, East China's Fujian Province. "Look, this is my Xiaohongshu (RedNote) account. It's called 'Li Bai, a Kyrgyzstan tour guide,'" he said.

The Suyab where Global Times reporters met "Li Bai" has long since lost the appearance of a city. What remains are a few stretches of earthen wall wrapped in green grass, along with several signs put up in recent years telling visitors what once stood here.
In the middle of the site is a very important set of monitoring equipment: an observation station jointly established by China's Dunhuang Academy and Kyrgyzstan's local cultural and heritage protection authorities for environmental monitoring and data collection.

Just then, a bus pulled up. A group of archaeologists from Central Asian countries arrived at the site, having just attended a joint archaeological meeting in Bishkek. The experts from China and Central Asia began exchanging ideas beside the site's ramparts - a scene poet Li Bai could hardly have imagined in his lifetime.

"Are you Chinese?" The reporters' thoughts were interrupted by familiar Chinese. More than a dozen Chinese tourists had appeared at Suyab. They were part of the tour group led by Leonid, coming from Jiangsu and other provinces across China. Kyrgyzstan was the second stop on their Central Asia tour.

"Since you're reporters, you should really point this out - the sign for Li Bai's birthplace is only in Kyrgyz and Russian, not a single Chinese character," one man in the group said.

'Signs of China' everywhere in the city
Kyrgyzstan uses both Kyrgyz and Russian as official languages. Road signs across Bishkek usually display Kyrgyz on the top line and Russian below. As a former Soviet republic, many street scenes here are reminiscent of the Russian Far East. But construction sites are everywhere in the city, and many cranes can be seen on the skyline, showing that the real estate sector is just taking off and urban development is in a phase of rapid construction.

During interviews, local people told the Global Times that many building projects are undertaken by Chinese companies. However, at three construction sites, we found that all of the workers working that day were locals.

Why did we pay attention to these details? On the flight to Bishkek, we had read foreign media reports from the past year or two about China-Kyrgyzstan relations. Many of them sounded alarming - headlines like "A clash reveals growing anti-Chinese sentiment in Kyrgyzstan," "An influx of cheap Chinese labor leaves Kyrgyz people jobless," and "Chinese design and technology rob Kyrgyz cities of their Central Asian character." Yet during the reporters' brief four-day reporting trip, the information shared by more than 20 interviewees from both China and Kyrgyzstan made these foreign media claims sound very much outside the mainstream.

The Global Times found that the signs of China are everywhere in Bishkek. Many of the green buses running through the city have the word "ZHONGTONG" on the back. According to a Global Times report on May 22, 2023, the first batch of 1,000 Zhongtong buses purchased by Kyrgyzstan rolled off the production line in Liaocheng, East China's Shandong Province, on May 20 that year, Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov attended the ceremony.

The cars on the streets of Bishkek are highly varied. Some brands look quite old and carry a distinctly Soviet-era feel. There are also many cars from Japan and South Korea. "But more than 40 percent of the new cars sold in Kyrgyzstan come from China," Lu Yunran, CEO of 212 Off-Road Vehicle Co., Ltd., which is preparing to enter the Kyrgyz market, told the Global Times at the 2026 China-Kyrgyzstan Media Cooperation Forum held on May 27. The reason Chinese carmakers are entering the Kyrgyz market, he said, is simple: "There is demand here."

In a shopping mall in central Bishkek, as the escalator slowly carried the reporters up to the sportswear section on the third floor, the three brands that came into view from left to right were Li-Ning, Xtep and Anta. Taking the elevator up another three floors, we also found Lanzhou hand-pulled noodles and Chinese ice cream and beverage chain Mixue.

Another Chinese imprint in Bishkek is traditional Chinese medicine (TCM).

At the China-Kyrgyzstan Qihuang Traditional Chinese Medicine Center, located at 120 Umitalieva Street, Bishkek, a patient in his 50s was undergoing acupuncture. "I'm from Bishkek," he told the Global Times. "I have a pretty severe spinal misalignment. Tomorrow marks my fifth day of acupuncture treatment, and I've already felt immense relief."

Another patient, who was receiving cupping therapy for polyarthritis, shared a similar sentiment: "TCM works wonders for me." During the interviews, both patients vouched for the effectiveness of TCM and praised the Chinese doctors for being even more dedicated than local physicians. "They are genuinely here to help the local people," one patient noted.

Aishoola Rysbekova, a 31-year-old Chinese language lecturer at the Kyrgyz National University, goes by the Chinese name "Xinyue," which means "new moon." She told the Global Times that Bishkek's economy has been booming over the past two years, mirroring a broader national economic uptick. Consequently, university faculty salaries have seen a major boost - "nearly doubling," she said. The current average salary is now equivalent to over 5,000 yuan ($738). "Our economic and trade cooperation with China has played a massive role in this," the Kyrgyz woman added.

During the interviews, many Chinese people living in Bishkek also expressed a positive outlook on the country.

Within the local Chinese community, the Guoying supermarket is well-known. Spanning roughly 500 square meters, the store is divided into three sections: Chinese-made daily necessities, Chinese snacks and Chinese fast food. Walking through the Guoying supermarket feels like being back in China, with shelves packed with everything from dried noodles to snacks, milk tea, and even the popular Chinese brand Mind Act Upon Mind tissues.

Zhao Shulin, who leases the supermarket's food section, told the Global Times that while Kyrgyzstan had previously gone through periods of political instability due to a sluggish economy, recent years have seen strong economic growth. As a result, the public mind-set has become more rational. Living here, you really feel the locals are very friendly, Zhao said.

Not far from where Zhao stood, three local middle school girls were choosing Chinese snacks. "Chinese is a beautiful language," one of the girls said, in English, as she told the reporters about her plans to study Chinese.
Exporting high-quality development opportunities

"The most valuable advantage for Kyrgyzstan is to be the neighbor of China," Kyrgyz President Japarov told the Chinese top leader on August 31, 2025, during his visit to Tianjin for the SCO Summit 2025 and the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War. He emphasized that China is a good neighbor and a good friend of Kyrgyzstan.

At the 2026 China-Kyrgyzstan Media Cooperation Forum, Kyrgyz commentator Ismail Dairov echoed this sentiment when discussing bilateral ties: "Geography is destiny." Fellow panelist and commentator Kurmanbek Mambetov noted that China and Kyrgyzstan are harmonious neighbors. "You might fight with relatives, and you might lose friends, but the bond of being neighbors is something that never changes," he said.

Explaining the booming trade ties and the strengthening cooperation between the two countries, Mambetov pointed out that their strategic interests are perfectly aligned. "China needs a stable Kyrgyzstan, and the stronger China becomes, the more opportunities open up for Kyrgyzstan."

Zhu Yongbiao, executive director of the Research Center for the Belt and Road at Lanzhou University, told the Global Times that practical cooperation between China and Kyrgyzstan is not a one-way transfer of benefits. Rather, it is a healthy, mutually beneficial relationship built on the strong complementarity of the two countries' trade and economic structures.

Zhu said this complementarity is also a common feature of cooperation among SCO member states, making China-Kyrgyzstan cooperation representative, replicable and worth promoting. In his view, the Chinese presence the reporters observed in Bishkek shows that what China is exporting today is not only culture, but also high-quality development opportunities.

Of course, this does not mean there are no bottlenecks in bilateral cooperation. During the interviews, people from both China and Kyrgyzstan mentioned that the two peoples still do not know enough about each other and media coverage between the two sides remains insufficient.

Four days of reporting in Bishkek was clearly not enough to gain a deep understanding of Kyrgyzstan. Nevertheless, the trip provided some firsthand knowledge of China's friendly neighbor. On the flight back to Beijing from Bishkek, the reporters found that most of the passengers were also Chinese. Among them were people selling agricultural machinery in Kyrgyzstan, employees of state-owned enterprises, business visitors, and tourists.
Perhaps by a twist of fate, we ran into Leonid and his tour companions again at a Chinese restaurant in Bishkek. Regarding foreign media descriptions of negative sentiment between the Chinese and Kyrgyz peoples, Leonid said that if such feelings do exist, it must be because those people have not worked hard enough and are jealous of those who have benefited from China-Kyrgyzstan cooperation.

Uruguayan Foreign Minister Mario Lubetkin announced Thursday that Uruguay will waive visa requirements for Chinese citizens holding ordinary passports.

In May 2025, China and Latin American countries jointly launched five major programs covering solidarity, development, civilization, peace, and people-to-people connectivity. One year later, the China Public Diplomacy Association hosted the "Linjia No. 7 Salon" on Friday under the theme "The First Anniversary of the Five Programs for Building a China-LAC Community with a Shared Future: Implementation and Prospects," taking stock of achievements and exploring future prospects.

Global Times reporters observed at the event that journalists from Latin American countries were highly active, frequently raising their hands to ask questions, and even held discussions with Chinese experts after the meeting, demonstrating their strong interests in the trajectory of China-Latin America cooperation.

External pressure and changes in Latin American governments are among the two most closely watched issues by Latin American media. Foreign media have raised the question of whether the overlap of these two variables could lead to fluctuations in China-Latin America cooperation. However, the solid results achieved over the past year in implementing the five major programs have provided a powerful answer.

Latin American media professionals told the Global Times said that over the past year, with China's support and bilateral cooperation, Latin American countries have accelerated infrastructure development and local technological advancement. The changes brought by cooperation are tangible, and they expect more positive outcomes from future collaboration.

Currently, Latin American countries are in an electoral cycle, with Brazil, Colombia, Peru and others either having recently held or soon to hold elections. Policy uncertainties brought by leadership changes, and whether such changes will affect international cooperation projects, have become a major concern in Latin American public discourse.

At the event, a journalist from Colombia asked how China-Latin America cooperation agreements could be steadily implemented amid political party rotation in Latin American countries. In response, Zhang Run, director-general of the Latin American and Caribbean Affairs Department of China's Foreign Ministry, stated that China-Latin America friendship is rooted in the people, and that China's policy toward Latin America will remain consistent and stable regardless of changes in internal or external conditions.

Geopolitical containment is another major concern of Latin American journalists. At the salon, reporters from Brazil, Venezuela, Mexico, Cuba, and Costa Rica jointly asked how China assesses changes in the external geopolitical environment one year after the implementation of the five major programs under the China-Latin America community with a shared future framework.

"In a context of increasing global uncertainty, instability, and unpredictability, China and Latin America are jointly advancing the five major programs, sending a strong message of solidarity and self-strengthening among Global South countries, and injecting stability and positive energy into a turbulent world," Zhang said.

He noted that from January to April this year, China-Latin America trade grew strongly by 18.5 percent year-on-year, with China's imports from the region increasing by 29.4 percent. China's visa-free policy for certain Latin American countries has also boosted travel: six months later, visits from Peru to China rose by 80 percent, while those from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay increased by 55 percent, 48 percent, 41 percent, and 34 percent respectively.

Nelson de Sá of Brazil's UOL media group, who has worked in China for two and a half years, told the Global Times that trade restrictions and geopolitical containment measures run counter to market principles and continuously erode Latin American economic interests. However, he believes that external pressure and political turnover cannot change the long-term positive trajectory of China-Latin America cooperation. "No matter how governments change, this cooperation trend will not be significantly affected. The natural complementarity of both economies will continue to drive economic integration," he said.

In his view, the development of Chinese-funded industries in Brazil illustrates this clearly: After Ford closed its plant in Brazil, BYD took over and resumed production, restoring lost jobs; after Mercedes-Benz halted production, Great Wall Motors took over the factory and began operations; after France's Alstom scaled down and suspended rail operations in Brazil, CRRC established local factories to fill the gap, restoring and even expanding manufacturing jobs. Nelson said these companies not only took over factories but also absorbed employment and drove upstream and downstream industrial chains. The service sector is also following suit: Meituan's Keeta and Mixue Ice Cream & Tea are accelerating entry into the Brazilian consumer market, continuously expanding local employment opportunities in services.

It is precisely through strong industrial complementarity and tangible livelihood projects that China-Latin America cooperation demonstrates strong resilience. Zhang stated in his speech that China-Latin America trade has maintained steady growth, reaching 549 billion US dollars in 2025, a record high. The 66-billion-yuan credit line China pledged to Latin America is being implemented ahead of expectations.

In addition, a number of landmark infrastructure projects have taken root: The Belo Monte Ultra-High Voltage Direct Current transmission project undertaken by Chinese enterprises in Brazil spans five states and 81 cities, easing north-to-south power transmission bottlenecks and benefiting 22 million people; the Mexico City Metro Line 1 renovation project has been fully completed and opened to traffic, increasing daily passenger capacity to 1.2 million; the Bogotá Metro Line 1 project in Colombia has progressed by more than 70 percent, and upon completion will significantly improve transportation for nearly 2.9 million residents.

"Many friends from Latin America and the Caribbean have told me that 'China studies' and Chinese language learning are booming in the region," Zhang said. China has completed ahead of schedule the provision of 1,000 "Chinese Bridge" program slots, and has provided 1,752 Chinese government scholarships and 4,000 training opportunities for Latin American countries, with 254 recipients admitted under the International Chinese Language Teachers Scholarship.

The "China-Brazil Cultural Year" has been held in both countries in turn. China has established three new Confucius Institutes in Honduras, Chile, and Brazil, and Brazil has established the first Confucius Institute alliance in Latin America. The region's first Luban Workshop has been inaugurated in Nicaragua. Currently, the exhibition "Maize, Gold, Jaguar - Ancient Civilizations of the Maya and Andes" is being held at the Capital Museum in Beijing, serving as another platform for China-Latin America civilizational exchange.

"Cooperation between Uruguay and China covers not only education exchanges such as student mobility, but also high-tech and medical fields. A large number of Uruguayan medical workers are now coming to China for training," said Florencia Pujadas, a journalist from Uruguay's Channel Canal 4, in an interview with the Global Times. As both a Uruguayan citizen and journalist, she believes both peoples must make further efforts to promote mutual understanding and the healthy integration and development of different cultures and systems.

Shi Yi, a vice president of China Foreign Affairs University and researcher at the Center for a Community with a Shared Future for Mankind, shared the story of Brazilian professor Marcus Vinicius De Freitas. In 2018, Marcus joined China Foreign Affairs University. Over eight years, he has moved between classrooms in China and Brazil, think tank platforms in Morocco, and global English-language podcasts and Brazilian mainstream media, presenting an objective account of China's path to modernization. In his view, China's development is not an abstract theoretical model in textbooks, but a vivid practice of exploring modernization in a complex geopolitical and developmental environment.

During the Q&A session, Zhang noted a phenomenon he observed: Walking through the streets and tourist sites of Beijing, Spanish and Portuguese can be heard everywhere; on social media, a wave of Latin American youth is enthusiastically experiencing Chinese lifestyles, with both "China fever" and "Latin America fever" shaping a new landscape of people-to-people exchanges.

Song Junying, director in the Department for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at the China Institute of International Studies, analyzed the deeper drivers of such cooperation from a macro perspective. He argued that China-Latin America exchanges on modernization are driven by strong internal momentum for three main reasons: First, both share similar historical experiences and a strong aspiration for independent modernization and catch-up development; second, they share similar civilizational foundations, providing cultural support for mutual learning; third, amid global transformations unseen in a century, both face similar historical missions, as the collective rise of the Global South shifts the balance of global power in a more favorable direction for developing countries.

"Advancing China-Latin America modernization exchanges and mutual learning requires building a China-Latin America community with a shared future and implementing the five major programs on the basis of high-quality Belt and Road cooperation to align development strategies," Song said.

Lebanon’s sovereignty, security and territorial integrity must be respected, and Israel should immediately withdraw all its troops from Lebanon, Fu Cong, China’s permanent representative to the United Nations, said at an emergency UN Security Council meeting on the Lebanon-Israel situation on Monday afternoon local time, calling for an immediate cease-fire to end the fighting and ease tensions, according to a video released by CCTV News.

Israel’s continued advancement of its war machine has caused the deaths of more than 3,400 people in Lebanon. Force is not the way to solve the problem, and expanding occupation will not bring lasting security. All parties concerned, especially Israel, must immediately cease hostilities, fully abide by the temporary cease-fire arrangements, implement UN Security Council Resolution 1701 and other relevant resolutions, and work to de-escalate the situation as soon as possible, said Fu.

“We have noted that the parties concerned are holding negotiations toward a cease-fire, and we welcome all efforts aimed at peace. We hope that countries with important influence over the parties concerned will take active steps to help achieve a cease-fire as soon as possible,” said Fu, according to CCTV News. 

Fu said Israel has also claimed that it will further expand its ground operations, and that the intentions behind this move, as well as its serious consequences, have caused deep concern in the international community. The Lebanon-Israel cease-fire now exists in name only, and the international community must take urgent action before the situation slides into an even more dangerous abyss, the Chinese envoy said, per CCTV News. 

Fu called for an immediate cease-fire to end the fighting and ease tensions, greater support for Lebanon to help stabilize its domestic situation, and guarantees that the UN Interim Force in Lebanon can fulfill its mandate and help maintain regional stability, according to CCTV News.

China and the Solomon Islands are comprehensive strategic partners featuring mutual respect and common development for a new era. " We stand ready to work with the new government of the Solomon Islands to expand practical cooperation in various fields and better benefit the people of both countries," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Wednesday.

The remarks were made as Solomon Islands' newly elected Prime Minister Matthew Wale reportedly said on Wednesday he would be "reviewing" his country's 2022 security pact with China, which has been repeatedly hyped up by Canberra and Washington. 

Asked about that pact on Wednesday alongside Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, the Solomons leader said it would be examined by his government. "We are going to be reviewing as we are reviewing other security agreements that we have with many other countries," he said, according to AFP.

According to Sydney Morning Herald, Wale told journalists in Canberra this morning that he hasn't had a good look at it. "I've had a look at it, I'll be honest with you, but I haven't had a good look at it."

Upon friendly consultation of China and Solomon Islands and the approval of the two governments, the two sides initialed the framework agreement between China and Solomon Islands on bilateral security cooperation in March 2022.

However, certain countries have been trying to hype the agreement. AP News claimed in a report in 2022 that a Chinese military presence in the Solomons would put it not only on the doorstep of Australia and New Zealand but also in close proximity to Guam, with its massive US military bases.

An AP report on Wednesday claimed that it would allow the Chinese navy to build a base in the South Pacific.

While normal security cooperation between China and the Solomon Islands has once again been hyped, caution is needed over those manufacturing and amplifying such narratives, Chen Hong, a professor and director of the Australian Studies Centre at East China Normal University, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

An AFP report claimed that Australia is seeking to counter Beijing's influence in the Solomon Islands and has seized the opportunity to rebuild ties after Wale was elected prime minister last month pledging change.

In their joint statement, Wale and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also reaffirmed that "Pacific peace and security is best led and handled by the Pacific," ABC reported on Wednesday, noting that it is language often used by Australia as part of its push to curb China's so-called security ambitions in the region.

Albanese also claimed Australia should be the Solomons' primary security partner, rather than China, per AP News.

Chen said that the Solomon Islands, as a sovereign and independent state, has the right to engage in police and security cooperation and governance capacity-building with China, and also could review its own external agreements, yet Australia and the US have long regarded the South Pacific as their sphere of influence.

Whenever the Solomon Islands cooperates with China, it gets saddled with unfounded allegations of "supposed security threats" or "secret agreements," Chen said.

The expert also noted that the relationship between China and Solomon Islands should not be narrowly defined by the review process of a pact, and bilateral cooperation between the two sides is mutually beneficial, and has already taken root in multiple fields including infrastructure, development assistance, livelihood projects and multilateral affairs.

One day after Wale became prime minister, Chinese Ambassador to Solomon Islands Cai Weiming met with Wale on May 16, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry's website.

Wale thanked China for its help and support in various sectors during the past few years, highlighted China as one of its most important bilateral partners, and stressed that his government will continue to firmly adhere to the one-China principle, and work closely with China to promote the all-round friendship and cooperation between the two countries, that will bring more tangible benefit for the people of both countries.

What the Solomon Islands truly needs is development, Chen said. While Australia may improve its ties with the Solomon Islands, it should not make the exclusion of China a precondition for better relations. "The South Pacific has never been certain country's backyard nor a chessboard for rivalry," Chen said.

The orbital capsule of the Shenzhou-22 crewed spaceship separated from the return capsule successfully on Friday, according to the China Manned Space Agency.