Chinese leader Xi Jinping kicked off a meeting Thursday that the country bills as a historic milestone, rolling out the red carpet for leaders of five Central Asian countries that are central to China's regional ambitions.
The inaugural China-Central Asia meeting is part of China's broader goal of strengthening economic and political partnerships with like-minded countries to counter what it sees as a U.S.-dominated world order trying to contain and suppress China.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, President of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Japarov, President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon and President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdymukhamedov arrive at the joint press conference of the China-Central Asia Summit in Xian, Shaanxi Province, China, May 19, 2023. EFE/EPA/FLORENCE LO/POOL
In particular, Xi's summit was scheduled on the eve of the annual meeting of the Group of Seven in Hiroshima, Japan, which begins on Friday and will be attended by the leaders of the world's richest major democracies, including President Joe Biden.
One of the main issues the G-7 leaders will address will be how to deal with what the United States calls China's growing assertiveness.
Xi has sought to increase China's influence in Central Asia as part of his efforts to improve his image as a global statesman.
China greeted the leaders of five former Soviet republics — Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan — on the dance floor with a large crowd of dancers and children jumping and chanting: "Welcome, welcome! Welcome!"
Xi, in a speech Friday, called for China and Central Asia to deepen their economic cooperation, calling it a relationship with "deep historical origins."
The two-day meeting also points to China's interest in filling some of the vacuum 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 increasingly trying to highlight these groupings and platforms where it is the focal point, not the West," said Raffaello Pantucci, a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.
"It's part of the larger story that China is weaving, which is that there's another world order out there."
The meeting is being held in Xi'an, a city in central China that was a key stop on the ancient Silk Road, which for centuries linked China with Central Asia and the Middle East.
China's interest in Central Asia stems from its concern about violence and ethnic tensions in the far western region of Xinjiang, which shares a border with Central Asian countries.
According to analysts, China sees the region's economic prosperity as a way to further stabilize Xinjiang.
China has invested billions of dollars in the pipelines, roads and railways that help bring Central Asia's rich reserves of natural resources to China.
Many Chinese cities rely on natural gas from Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan has some of the world's largest oil fields outside the Middle East.
In 2013, Xi chose Kazakhstan as the setting for the speech in which he laid out the vision of his Belt and Road Initiative, a trillion-dollar plan to build infrastructure projects in developing countries to bring them closer to China's orbit.
Last year, Xi visited Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan on his first foreign trip since the pandemic began.
Even so, the relationship has not always been smooth. Several Belt and Road projects in the region have stalled or been embroiled in scandals, including a 2018 power plant breakdown that left much of Kyrgyzstan's capital without heat or electricity.
Local residents have protested concerns that their countries are borrowing too much from China and the internment of Muslim minorities in Xinjiang.
And Xi's ambitions in the region are complicated by his friendship with Russian President Vladimir Putin and the close ties that bind the two countries.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine, a former Soviet republic, has unsettled Central Asia, raising concerns that Russia may try to seize other places that were part of the Soviet Union, or encourage separatists.
Xi said in his speech on Friday that "the sovereignty, security, independence and territorial integrity of Central Asian countries should be maintained."
Theresa Fallon, director of the Center for Russia-Europe-Asia Studies in Brussels, said China is engaged in "tough diplomatic footwork" to try to gain leverage with Central Asian countries without angering Putin.
"China and Russia share an anti-Western narrative, but there are many areas of potential friction," Fallon said.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken also visited Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan this year, hoping to encourage Central Asian countries to resist providing economic aid to Russia in the face of Western sanctions.
According to Niva Yau, a researcher in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, who works as a non-resident fellow at the Atlantic Council's China Hub think tank, China is closely watching the growing number of Western actors courting Central Asia.
By holding the summit, China aims to "give more assurances to Central Asia that China will always be here, that China is predictable, that China is able to provide Central Asia with the support it needs."
c.2023 The New York Times Company
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