China-Kyrgyzstan cooperation sees tangible benefits

For Ulukbek Kulukeyev, head of Kyrgyzstan's National Hospital, the number 1,200 is anything but an impersonal statistic.

Kulukeyev revealed that cooperation between Chinese and Kyrgyz medical teams has seen 1,200 patients recovering and being discharged after receiving ophthalmic treatment.

"This is not just a figure," he said, adding that behind every surgery was the suffering a patient had endured, the joy of regaining sight and the dedication of medical professionals.

During the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Samarkand Summit in 2022, President Xi Jinping had pledged to provide 2,000 free cataract surgeries for people in SCO countries over the following three years.

Since 2023, Chinese medical teams have performed more than 1,000 eye surgeries in Kyrgyzstan alone. China has also donated equipment and medicines and trained local doctors, helping build a local medical team with the skills to carry on the work.

Kulukeyev said that bilateral medical cooperation is expanding beyond clinical treatment to personnel training, technological innovation and academic exchanges. As the two countries address shared challenges such as how to apply digital technologies to improve the quality of medical services, their cooperation "holds immense promise", he said.

Medical cooperation is one example of how practical collaboration between China and Kyrgyzstan is improving people's lives. Kyrgyz officials and experts said its significance lies not only in the immediate outcomes of individual projects, but also in strengthening Kyrgyzstan's capacity for independent development through technology sharing, personnel training and capacity-building.

Sheradil Baktygulov, director of the Kyrgyz Institute of World Politics, noted that Xi has said the Communist Party of China "will not pursue modernization in isolation, and will endeavor to achieve modernization with other countries, including fellow developing countries".

Drawing on the ideas set out in the fifth volume of Xi Jinping: The Governance of China, he said isolationism and protectionism lead nowhere, while openness and mutually beneficial cooperation can enable more people, particularly those in the Global South, to share the benefits of development.

Kyrgyzstan can draw on the momentum of China's economic growth to unlock its own geographic advantages, resources and industrial potential, Baktygulov said.