BEIJING, January 7. /TASS/. China is ready to continue close cooperation with Kazakhstan to maintain peace and tranquility in border regions, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman told TASS on Friday, commenting on the situation at the Chinese-Kazakh border in the light of the current developments in Kazakhstan.
"China and Kazakhstan are friendly neighbors and true strategic partners," the spokesman said in a statement. "The sides have always been maintaining good contacts on issues of border control and cooperation and have been countering pandemic challenges together."
"The border between China and Kazakhstan has become a bridge of friendship and a link of cooperation between the two countries," the document says. "The Chinese side is ready to continue close cooperation with the Kazakh side to maintain tranquility in border regions, to promote the development of regions in border areas."
Protests erupted in several Kazakh cities on January 2 to grow into mass riots with attacks on government buildings in many cities several days later. Thousands have been injured and fatalities have also been reported. Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev asked help from the Collective Security Treaty Organization, or CSTO, a post-Soviet security bloc. CSTO peacekeepers have already been deployed to Kazakhstan. According to the Kazakh authorities, law and order had been restored in all of the country’s regions by the morning on January 7. However, the situation in Almaty is still very tense.