Five Central Asian have arrived in China's historic city of Xi'an for meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping to seal pledges of "enduring" friendship, paving the way for a summit expected to result in a regional pact with Beijing.
Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, on May 18 held a welcome ceremony in the Tang Paradise, a complex based on the site of the original relic of an imperial garden dating back to the Tang Dynasty, ahead of the summit that Beijing has said is of "milestone significance."
Greeting the Central Asian leaders at the ceremony, Xi emphasized that strengthening ties between China and the five former Soviet republics that traditionally have been within Russia's sphere of influence was a "strategic choice," adding that the summit will be "a full success and will herald a new era of China-Central Asia relations."
According to Chinese officials, Beijing’s trade with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan reached $70 billion in 2022 and expanded 22 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2023.
China, the world’s second-largest economy, has invested billions of dollars in Central Asia’s energy reserves and considers the region an important part of Beijing's ambitious Belt and Road Initiative connecting China with Europe.
Kazakh President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev was the first Central Asian leader who held talks with Xi right after he arrived in Xi'an on May 17, Toqaev's 70th birthday. During the talks, Xi called ties between China and Kazakhstan "unbreakable."
Xi held separate talks on May 18 with Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon, Turkmen President Serdar Berdymukhammedov, and Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoev.
The summit marking the 31st anniversary of diplomatic ties between China and the five nations comes amid Beijing's apparent efforts to increase its positions in Central Asia as Russia has been distracted by the ongoing war in Ukraine.