Xi Jinping of China is meeting with leaders of five countries in Central Asia, a region crucial to his geopolitical ambitions.
China’s leader, Xi Jinping, is kicking off a summit on Thursday that the country is heralding as a historic milestone, rolling out the red carpet for five Central Asian countries that are critical to China’s regional ambitions.
The inaugural China-Central Asia summit is part of China’s broader aim to strengthen economic and political partnerships with like-minded countries, to counter what it sees as a U.S.-dominated world order that is trying to contain and suppress China.
Notably, Mr. Xi’s summit was scheduled on the eve of the annual Group of 7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan, which begins Friday and will be attended by leaders of the world’s wealthiest large democracies, including President Biden. A major topic for the G7 leaders will be how to address what the United States describes as China’s growing assertiveness.
Mr. Xi has sought to deepen China’s influence in Central Asia, part of his efforts to burnish his image as a global statesman. China greeted the leaders of five former Soviet republics — Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan — on the tarmac with a huge crowd of dancers and jumping children chanting: “Welcome, welcome! Warmly welcome!”
The two-day summit also points to China’s interest in filling some of the void left by Russia, a key trading partner and longtime security provider for the region. Russia’s war in Ukraine has weakened Moscow’s influence in Central Asia, creating an opening for China.
“China has been trying to highlight more and more of these groupings and platforms where it is the center point, not the West,” said Raffaello Pantucci, a senior fellow at the S.
