China has confirmed that Xi Jinping plans to travel to Central Asia this week. This will be the Chinese president’s first trip aboard since the pandemic began more than two years ago.
Xi will visit Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan from Wednesday to Friday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The Central Asia tour marks Xi’s return to the world stage spotlight after being the only Group of 20 leaders to avoid traveling outside his country since the world’s first Covid lockdown began in January 2020. Apart from a visit to Hong Kong in July, the Chinese leader will have gone without leaving his country’s strict Covid Zero regime for nearly 970 days.
The trip comes just a month before the twice-in-a-decade party congress, where President Xi Jinping is likely to take a precedent-breaking third term. Nine years ago, Xi had launched the global trade-and-infrastructure plan that would become the Belt and Road Initiative in Kazakhstan and may be looking forward to using the trip in order to polish his foreign policy credentials.
Meeting with Putin
Uzbekistan is holding the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit, which will provide Xi with a chance to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in person for the first time since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February.
Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s foreign policy advisor, told news agencies last week that the Russian president was expected to meet Xi at the summit in the ancient Silk Road city of Samarkand in Uzbekistan. The Kremlin, however, did not provide details on their talks.
This highly anticipated meeting will give Xi Jinping an opportunity to highlight his clout while the Russian President can demonstrate Moscow’s tilt towards Asia; both leaders can express their opposition to the United States just as the West looks for ways to punish Russia for the Ukraine war.