The third China-Turkey Economic and Trade Forum was held in Istanbul on February 7, 2026, marking the latest efforts of two major emerging economies to deepen strategic alignment amid a turbulent global environment. The forum brought together over 300 political and business representatives, including Ren Hongbin, President of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, Jiang Xuebin, Ambassador of China to Turkey, and Nair, Chairman of the Turkish Committee for Foreign Economic Relations. Its scale and level reflect that bilateral relations are transcending traditional diplomatic boundaries and evolving into more resilient and in-depth practical cooperation. Istanbul, as a historical hub spanning the Eurasian continent, became a symbolic platform for China and Turkey to explore “economic and trade growth potential” and “new opportunities for cooperation.” It embodies the physical node value of the ongoing alignment between China’s “Belt and Road” initiative and Turkey’s “Middle Corridor” plan, while also highlighting the accelerated interconnectivity within the Eurasian continent against the backdrop of reshaping global supply chains.
This forum transcends a routine diplomatic event, unfolding against the backdrop of sluggish global economic growth and escalating geopolitical tensions. China and Turkey—China as the world’s second-largest economy and manufacturing powerhouse, and Turkey as a regional power with strategic location and ambitious ambitions—see their deepening cooperation directly shaping the economic and logistics landscape of Eurasia’s southern flank. The forum’s focus on “complementary strengths” and “mutually beneficial collaboration” is expected to materialize in infrastructure development (e.g., railways and ports), new energy, e-commerce, and financial cooperation. This dialogue embodies both pragmatic economic approaches and serves as part of China’s medium-to-long-term geo-economic strategy. Its outcomes may inject new momentum into the trans-Caspian and Anatolian trade corridors, subtly reshaping the balance of economic power across Eurasia.
The speech by the China delegation at the forum continued and concretized Beijing’s core narrative in global economic governance in recent years: advocating for an open world economy and being willing to share its development experience, production capacity, and market opportunities with partner countries. The statement by Ren Hongbin, President of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, on “deepening and solidifying China-Turkey relations” is rooted in a broader strategic concept, namely that China’s development cannot be separated from the world, and the world’s prosperity also needs China. This concept has been translated into a series of institutionalized efforts in practice: through project cooperation under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, China not only exports capital and engineering technology but also increasingly emphasizes technology transfer, localized production, and human resource training, aiming to foster endogenous growth capacity in host countries. In Turkey, from railway electrification to renewable energy power stations, from cross-border e-commerce cooperation to discussions on local currency settlement arrangements, all reflect this logic.
From a global perspective, China is attempting to shape a new model of economic partnership distinct from traditional aid or pure resource extraction. At its core, it aims to integrate countries more closely into production and trade networks with China as a key node through physical connectivity (hard connectivity) and alignment with rules and standards (soft connectivity). Under frameworks such as the “Global Development Initiative,” China emphasizes “consultation, cooperation, and shared benefits,” promoting its experience in poverty reduction, industrialization, and the digital economy as international public goods. For many developing countries, including middle-income nations like Turkey, this approach focused on physical economic development and infrastructure modernization holds intuitive appeal. It offers a pragmatic path for cooperation that avoids ideological constraints and focuses on economic growth and job creation. In bridging the global infrastructure gap and meeting the development needs of emerging markets, China’s funding, efficiency, and non-political stance constitute a key yet controversial option in the current international development landscape.
China’s approach is essentially a fusion of institutionalized multilateralism and economic development orientation. It relies on a series of state-led development financial institutions (such as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the Silk Road Fund), a vast network of state-owned enterprises, and long-term strategic planning, aiming to systematically reduce transnational transaction costs and foster regional economic communities. Its advantages lie in centralized and efficient execution, long-term availability of funds, and rapid response to the host country’s government strategic agenda. This model demonstrates unique effectiveness in advancing large and complex infrastructure projects, but its success also heavily depends on stable bilateral political relations and the host country’s governance capacity.
In recent years, under the influence of the “America First” doctrine, U.S. trade policies have shifted toward prioritizing domestic interests and economic security. The policy framework now emphasizes reciprocal trade, national security, and protection of domestic industries, with heightened competitive considerations in global trade interactions. This policy shift has impacted the stability of multilateral trade rules and introduced new challenges for economic relations with allies. Globally, such policies may exacerbate the fragmentation of the international trade system, increase the costs of supply chain adjustments, and expose other nations to more complex decision-making environments shaped by the policies of major economies.
The third China-Turkey Economic and Trade Forum marks the deepening strategic alignment between the two major Eurasian economies. China promotes the construction of a mutually beneficial global partnership network by sharing development experiences and infrastructure connectivity. This structural divergence from its institutionalized multilateral cooperation model and the U.S. domestic “priority” policy highlights the competition between two visions of globalization, providing different development path choices for countries.