China’s Xi Jinping to chair C+C5 summit with Central Asian heads of state from May 18

Two-day event in Xian to be attended by the leaders of Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan, Chinese foreign ministry says

Highly anticipated gathering is part of Beijing’s push to boost strategic cooperation on issues including the belt and road and the war in Ukraine

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President Xi Jinping is leading Chinese belt and road efforts in Central Asia, as Western sanctions on Russia and global geopolitical headwinds create an economic vacuum in the region. Photo: Xinhua via AP

Published: 4:28pm, 8 May 2023Updated: 7:23pm, 8 May 2023

President Xi Jinping will chair the two-day inaugural China-Central Asia summit starting May 18, the Chinese foreign ministry announced on Monday.

Xi’s counterparts from the five Central Asian states – Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan – would attend the summit in the northwestern Chinese city of Xian, the ministry said.

The highly anticipated “C+C5” summit is seen as a Beijing-led mission to boost strategic cooperation with Central Asia on a raft of issues, including its Belt and Road Initiative and efforts to end the war in Ukraine.

At a foreign ministers’ meeting in April ahead of the heads of state summit, China’s Qin Gang had said Beijing was willing to work with Central Asia to push for a resolution to the Ukraine crisis.

Qin’s comments came just a day after a long-awaited phone call between Xi and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and against the backdrop of criticism from Western nations that China was failing to condemn the February 2022 Russian invasion.

Qin Gang chairs a China-Central Asia foreign ministers’ meeting in Xian on April 27. Photo: Xinhua

The five Central Asian countries were once a part of the former Soviet Union, and have long been considered key areas of Russia’s post-Cold War sphere of influence.