The city has been hosting Central and South Asia Commodity Fair since 2005. More than 10,000 businessmen from Pakistan Iran, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan and other Central and South Asian countries took part in the fair this year. Business worth $8.3 billion (about 52.8 billion yuan) was transacted, which represents a 111.4 cent increase over last year’s trade volumes at the fair. Kashgar attracted investments in mining, new energy, tourism and agricultural sectors, according to Zhou Yuhui, director of the Commercial Bureau of the Kashgar prefecture.
Kashgar’s trade with Central Asian countries grew fast in 2012. From January to May, foreign trade reached $230 million, up by 17.6 percent from the same period of 2011.
Encouraged by the trend, the Chinese authorities have decided to develop Kashgar as a major trading hub for Central Asia and South Asia.
According to Ye Lin, executive deputy commissioner of the Kashgar prefecture, railway and highway projects linking Kashgar with the neighbours are now getting priority attention. The national section of the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan Railway has already been listed as one of Xinjiang’s key projects.
Pakistan appears keen more than other neighbours in forging close ties with Kashgar and the areas beyond the city in Xinjiang province. Primarily, the move is because of Muslim domination of the area that borders Gilgit-Baltistan. Kashgar region has a population of four million, over 80 per cent of them being Uygur Muslims.
Ashraf Azeem, who heads Islamabad -based Institute of Regional Studies, sees great cultural affinity between Kashgar and Pakistan’s border with Xinjiang. He also sees great trade opportunities for Pakistan in Kashgar, and avers that Pakistan should take advantage of Kashgar’s economic growth and connect it with economic activity in the areas contiguous to Xinjiang.
‘We stand to benefit as it (Kashgar) is being rapidly developed to link it with South and Central Asia’, he said after a visit to the Trade Fair. He added that a rail link was being planned between the two countries which would shorten distances and create new transportation, trade and energy corridors. “The enhanced transportation links between Pakistan and China will launch modern silk routes”.
China’s plans for Kashgar and Pakistan’s desire for closer ties with Kashgar appear to be at cross purposes. While for China, it is trade that matters the most, for Pakistan trade is incidental to the ties with the area. It sees Xinjiang province particularly the Uyghur autonomous region as a part of the extended area of Islamic influence. China is not oblivious to Pakistan’s mischief and in recent months has openly blamed Islamabad of fomenting trouble in the area. So the trade advantage in the Kashgar-Gilgit ties runs the risk of being over run by Islamic (mis)adventures.
