China Woos Central Asian Republics

China Woos Central Asian Republics

Chinese President, ๐—๐ข ๐‰๐ข๐ง๐ฉ๐ข๐ง๐  is in Astana, capita of ๐Š๐š๐ณ๐š๐ค๐ก๐ฌ๐ญ๐š๐ง to attend the ๐Ÿ๐ง๐ ๐‚๐ก๐ข๐ง๐š-๐‚๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ซ๐š๐ฅ ๐€๐ฌ๐ข๐š๐’๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ, along with leaders of the five Central Asian Republics (CARs) โ€” Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, to strengthen economic and strategic cooperation.

This meeting takes place amidst the backdrop of Israel-Iran conflict, and intensifying geopolitical competition. Central Asiaโ€™s importance to China has grown significantly, both as a ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐œ๐ž ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ž๐ง๐ž๐ซ๐ ๐ฒ ๐š๐ง๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐ž๐ซ๐š๐ฅ๐ฌ and as a ๐ค๐ž๐ฒ ๐œ๐จ๐ซ๐ซ๐ข๐๐จ๐ซ ๐ฎ๐ง๐๐ž๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐๐ž๐ฅ๐ญ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐‘๐จ๐š๐ ๐ˆ๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐š๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ž (๐๐‘๐ˆ) for trade with Europe.

Xi is expected to deliver a keynote and hold high-level bilateral talks focused on ๐ซ๐ž๐ ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐š๐ฅ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐š๐›๐ข๐ฅ๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ, ๐ž๐œ๐จ๐ง๐จ๐ฆ๐ข๐œ ๐œ๐จ๐จ๐ฉ๐ž๐ซ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง, ๐š๐ง๐ ๐๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ฅ๐จ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐ฃ๐ž๐œ๐ญ๐ฌ. On the agenda is a planned $๐Ÿ– ๐›๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ซ๐š๐ข๐ฅ๐ฐ๐š๐ฒlinking Chinaโ€™s Xinjiang region to Uzbekistan via Kyrgyzstan.

China is the top trading partner for all five CARs, with particularly strong ties to Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. It has pledged billions of dollars in investment across the region. The summit marked a continuation of Chinaโ€™s deepening commitment to the region and reaffirmed its intent to be a long-term development and security partner.

Russiaโ€™s preoccupation in Ukraine may have given China an opportunity to consolidate its influence among the five former Soviet CARs. Do you agree?

๐ƒ๐ข๐ฌ๐œ๐ฅ๐š๐ข๐ฆ๐ž๐ซ: This article has references to official and open sources, including Al Jazeera.

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