On Tuesday January 4, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping exchanged congratulations on the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries, according to the Tajik president’s official website.

In his message of congratulations, Emomali Rahmon, in particular, noted that he would like to extend his sincerest congratulations and best wishes to Xi and the Chinese people at this important moment in the history of bilateral relations.

Tajikistan's friendship with China and win-win cooperation in various fields have witnessed sustained development, and the two countries have reached a high level of their comprehensive strategic partnership, Tajik leader said. 

According to him, the bilateral relationship between Tajikistan and China is mutually beneficial and based on good-neighborliness, friendship, mutual respect and mutual trust, and represents a new type of high-quality relations between countries.

Expressing satisfaction with the current development of bilateral relations, Rahmon said he firmly believes that Tajikistan's relations with China will keep forging ahead into a brighter future.

For his part, President Xi Jinping pointed out, since the establishment of diplomatic ties 30 years ago, China-Tajikistan relations have achieved leapfrog development and reached the best level in history, according to China’s Foreign Ministry.

In particular, in recent years, the two countries have taken the lead in building a community of development and a community of security, setting an example of building a community with a shared future for mankind, President Xi said.  

Xi Jinping stressed that he attaches great importance to the development of China-Tajikistan relations, and he is willing to work with President Rahmon to take the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries as an opportunity to promote China-Tajikistan comprehensive strategic partnership to continuously achieve new outcomes, and build a closer China-Tajikistan community with a shared future, so as to benefit the two countries and the two peoples.

The Republic of Tajikistan and People's Republic of China have friendly relations characterized by bilateral and multilateral collaboration.  The two countries established formal relations on January 4, 1992, shortly after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

China is now among the four largest trade partners of Tajikistan.  Over the first eleven months of this year, the total trade turnover between Tajikistan and China has reached 709 million U.S. dollars.  A number of large Chinese enterprises in various industries operate in Tajikistan.

Many Tajik students are trained in different institutions in China.  A large number of students are trained in an educational and cultural center of Confucius in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.  Chinese Government is organizing training courses and seminars in various fields for Tajikistan's specialists. Chinese language centers have been opened in a number of higher education institutions of Tajikistan. 

The “Chinese culture corner” was opened at the National Library of Tajikistan. Both countries hold regular cultural shows and events.

Tajikistan and China are active members of the regional and international organizations and closely cooperate within the framework of these organizations, particularly the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Through the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), China swayed Tajikistan to combat the ‘three evils’ that are terrorism, separatism, and religious extremism.

The legal foundation of the bilateral cooperation between the two countries includes more than 200 interstate and intergovernmental agreements.

The governments of China and Tajikistan collaborate on security and military training; this collaboration has become stronger since the 2001 United States invasion of Afghanistan.  The two countries' militaries have conducted joint military exercises since 2006.