China Hosts Central Asia Summit
Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov and his wife, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife, Turkmen President Serdar Berdymukhamedov, and Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and his wife watch a performance during the welcome ceremony for the China-Central Asia summit in Xian, China, on May 18.Florence Lo/Pool/AFP via Getty Images
With G-7 leaders meeting in Japan, China kick-started its first-ever Central Asia summit on Thursday. Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan are all in attendance for the two-day event. Leaders met one-on-one with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday before group discussions on Friday. According to the Chinese foreign ministry, this is the first major diplomatic event China has hosted this year.
Many issues are on the summit’s agenda, but its primary purpose is to secure greater political and economic partnerships between China and its Central Asian neighbors. “We have a common goal: to intensify bilateral relations,” Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev told Xi on arriving in Xian, where the summit is being held. The central-northwest Chinese city, formerly called Changan, is a highly symbolic location for the meeting, as it once served as the eastern starting point of the Silk Road, the ancient trade route that connected China with Central Asia and the Mediterranean.
China and Central Asia have long been vital partners on the global stage. In 2013, Beijing launched its trillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative in Kazakhstan and has since spent billions of dollars on transportation and infrastructure in the region. China is Central Asia’s largest trading partner. Last year, trade reached a record high of $70 billion, including $31 billion with Kazakhstan alone. This year is proving to be no different; already, China and Central Asian nations have conducted more than $24.8 billion in trade. Just as Central Asia relies on Chinese trade and investment, Beijing depends on Central Asia for key resources. Many Chinese cities rely on natural gas pipelines from Turkmenistan and oil from Kazakhstan.
Alongside fostering economic relations, Beijing likely hopes that deeper ties with the region will help curtail U.S. dominance; curb ethnic unrest in far-western Xinjiang, which neighbors Central Asia; and fill the void left by Russia amid its war in Ukraine. However, not all Central Asian nations are on board. Many Central Asian Muslims continue to criticize China’s abuse of Uyghurs in Xinjiang. And Central Asian leaders fear that as former Soviet satellite states, their countries may be next to get caught in the Kremlin’s crosshairs and are thus wary of Xi’s close relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin.