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China diplomacy: In first trip abroad since Jan 2020, Xi Jinping to visit Central Asia
Xi Jinping will also meet Vladimir Putin, as confirmed by Russian diplomats both in Beijing and in Moscow,at the SCO summit in the city of Samarkand in Uzbekistan
BEIJING: China on Monday confirmed that President Xi Jinping will leave the mainland for the first time in 32 months for a trip this week to Central Asia where he will attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit and meet Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Xi last stepped out of China in January, 2020, when he visited Myanmar but has since then remained in the country as the Covid-19 outbreak in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019 turned into a global pandemic and the mainland snapped shut its international borders.
Xi’s in-person meetings with leaders of other countries were restricted and he focused instead on virtual diplomacy.
Xi is due on a state visit to Kazakhstan on Wednesday, the Chinese foreign ministry announced on Monday, confirming several earlier reports on his impending foreign tour.
Xi will then meet Putin, as confirmed by Russian diplomats both in Beijing and in Moscow,at the SCO summit in the city of Samarkand in Uzbekistan.
“Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend the 22nd meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the SCO in the city of Samarkand, and pay state visits to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan from September 14 to 16,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, Hua Chunying, said.
Xi’s high-profile visit - he is the only G20 leader not to have travelled abroad since the pandemic - will take place barely a month before the all-important Communist Party of China’s (CPC) twice-a-decade congress where he is expected to secure a precedent-breaking third term as China’s president and the most powerful leader since Mao Zedong.
Xi’s meeting with Putin will be the first in-person meeting since Russia invaded Ukraine and their meeting is expected to be a Sino-Russia show of unity and strength against the West.
The two leaders are set to deepen the two countries’ “no limits” partnership, a partnership the West is closely tracking.
Besides the widening rift between China-supported Russia and the West over Ukraine, the SCO summit will take place in the backdrop of ongoing border tension between New Delhi and Beijing.
Xi’s first stop in his tour will be Kazakhstan, a long-time partner, where he will meet Kazakh President Qassym-Zhomart Toqaev.
It was during a lecture at a university in Kazakhstan in 2013 that Xi had first announced the land route of his Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
The Central Asian country is a major supplier of raw materials including minerals and metals to China; it also shares a border with Xinjiang.
More recently, Xi had given strong support to Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev who had faced a country-wide rebellion, saying Tokayev had taken decisive and effective actions at a critical moment to quickly calm the situation.
In a verbal message to Tokayev, published by official news agency, Xinhua, Xi said China strongly rejects any attempt by external forces to provoke unrest and instigate “colour revolutions” in Kazakhstan “…as well as any attempt to harm the friendship between China and Kazakhstan and disrupt the two countries’ cooperation”.
Interestingly, Xi’s Kazakhstan visit coincides with the visit of Pope Francis to the country.
There’s speculation about a possible meeting between the two though there is no precedent of any Chinese leader meeting a pope.
China and the Vatican are negotiating the renewal of a provisional agreement on the appointment of bishops in the country, a sensitive issue as all religious leaders in China are appointed by the ruling Communist party.
The SCO founded in Shanghai in June 2001 comprises eight member states: China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
