Summit a ‘major diplomatic event’ to boost China’s ties with Central Asian nations amid Ukraine, Afghanistan concerns

China is expected to further boost ties with Central Asia when President Xi Jinping hosts his counterparts from the region amid uncertainties stemming from Russia’s war in Ukraine and increasing hostility from the West.

Beijing has hailed the two-day summit of nations in the vast and geo-strategically important neighbouring region on Thursday and Friday as the “first major diplomatic event that China hosts this year”.

The meeting in Xian, in the northwestern province of Shaanxi, coincides with the leaders’ summit of Group of 7 industrialised democracies in Hiroshima, Japan, starting on Friday. The leaders of the United States, Japan, Canada, Germany, France, Italy and Britain are expected to show unity against China and Russia at the G7 summit.

The inaugural summit between Xi and his counterparts from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan also comes weeks after Xi’s long-anticipated phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, raising speculation that Beijing might present itself as a reliable security partner to a region that has traditionally relied on Russian security guarantees.

Beijing has long seen Central Asia as a frontier critical for the country’s trade expansion and energy security, and for stability in Xinjiang, the far western region where its treatment of Uygur Muslims has been among the most contentious issues between China and the West.

China has been seeking closer ties with Central Asia, and in September Xi surprised many when he visited Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan on his first trip abroad since the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic.