Chinese President Xi Jinping seeks to open doors in Central Asia as Ukraine war leaves Russia diminished

The Chinese leader’s first trip abroad in more than 2 years saw him visiting Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, where he signed a series of deals with local leaders

Although Xi also met Vladimir Putin, analysts say the Ukraine war has inevitably weakened Russia’s influence, leaving a vacuum for Beijing to fill

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Xi Jinping pictured with other regional leaders at the SCO summit in Samarkand. Photo: AFP

Published: 11:00pm, 16 Sep 2022Updated: 9:49am, 17 Sep 2022

Russia’s setbacks in Ukraine have given China an opening in Central Asia, where President Xi Jinping has been seeking to expand the country’s presence in a region that Moscow has traditionally seen as its backyard.

Xi pledged greater Chinese involvement in the region and sought to renew his personal bond with regional leaders during this week’s visit to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, his first trip abroad since the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Apart from his first face-to-face encounter with Russian President Vladimir Putin since the invasion of Ukraine in February, Xi has also met nearly a dozen regional leaders on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Samarkand.

He followed the signing of cooperation deals on energy, logistics and agriculture in Kazakhstan with a raft of investment agreements worth US$15 billion when he met Uzbekistan’s President Shavkat Mirziyoyev in the ancient Uzbek Silk Road city on Thursday.

His trip has enhanced China’s role in sensitive regional issues, such as water-resources management, and allowed it to make progress on major infrastructure projects that have long been delayed because of Moscow’s opposition, including the Trans-Caspian International Transport Corridor and a rail line linking China’s Xinjiang region, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.

Chinese leaders and officials have been keen to brush aside Moscow’s concerns about Beijing’s deepening regional involvement, insisting China is mindful of Russia’s strategic interests and has no intention of challenging its sphere of influence.

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