Kyrgyzstan Premieres China-Produced Belt and Road Documentary

On November 30, 2023, Bishkek hosted the premiere of the documentary One Belt, One Road: Next to You, marking the tenth anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative, according to Kyrgyzstan’s state news agency Kabar. Chinese Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan Du Dewen (杜德文), Kyrgyz Transport and Communications Minister Tilek Tekebaev, and Kyrgyz Deputy Minister of Culture, Information, Sports and Youth Policy Chyngyz Esengul uulu attended. Du said the initiative had “evolved from a Chinese initiative into an international practice” over its first decade and voiced hope that continued cooperation would advance a “Chinese-Kyrgyzstan community with a common destiny” — an unmistakable reference to Xi Jinping’s key foreign policy phrase. The five-episode documentary covers infrastructure, trade, transport, agriculture, and cultural cooperation between the two countries, and was slated to air through “China TV Theater,” a strand created by China’s National Radio and Television Administration (NRTA), the state agency that regulates broadcast and online audiovisual content and oversees the licensing of domestic and foreign media in China, to place Chinese state-produced programming on foreign broadcasters’ channels and platforms. Kabar described Dolon TV, its local carrier, as Kyrgyzstan’s second-largest cable operator, with more than 100 channels in Russian, Chinese, and English, and reported that the company has partnered with Chinese media on content adaptation, packaging, and dubbing since the Belt and Road Initiative’s launch.