Chinese President Xi Jinping (fourth from left) and other leaders of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) members pose for a commemorative photo at a summit held in Samarkand, Uzbekistan on the 16th. AP Yonhap News
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) completed a tour of Central Asia on the 14th and 16th, ending his first outing in 2 years and 8 months. President Xi left China for the first time since the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020 and conducted summit diplomacy abroad, focusing on securing friendly forces in the midst of the US-China conflict and expanding China’s diplomatic influence. China said that Xi’s visit was part of a strategy to break through the US encirclement, and it was an opportunity to fully demonstrate China’s international status and influence.
China’s Foreign Ministry announced on the 18th that President Xi had made a state visit to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan starting on the 14th and returned home on the night of the 16th following attending the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. Xi’s stay abroad was only regarding 48 hours. However, in a short period of time, he attended nearly 30 events and held bilateral talks with the heads of 12 countries. He urged the leaders of each country to strengthen relations with economic cooperation, and focused on attracting support from each country for the one China principle on the Taiwan issue. After US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan last month, tensions in the Taiwan Strait and the US-China conflict have intensified.
China’s strategy is considered to have paid off to some extent. Xi received a warm welcome in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. It succeeded in showing off China’s diplomatic status both internally and externally by directing the faces of the heads of countries meeting President Xi who returned to the international stage. Using the SCO summit led by the country as the stage for the return to multilateral diplomacy was also an effective strategy. At the SCO Summit, President Xi proposed to establish an independent payment and settlement system to combat the ‘dollar hegemony’, presented various support plans for member countries, and advocated the construction of a ‘SCO Community of Destiny’. The ‘Samarkand Declaration’ announced by the member countries at this meeting also included a statement that ‘opposition to the resolution of international and regional problems through collectivization, ideology, and counter-thinking’. This is the position that China has been emphasizing once morest the US strengthening its encirclement network.
President Xi’s attendance at the SCO Summit is interpreted as an opportunity to strengthen the anti-American and anti-Western colors of the SCO. The expansion of SCO’s perimeter is also worth paying attention to. Through this meeting, Iran, an anti-American country, has virtually completed the process for joining the SCO as an active member, and Belarus has also started the process of joining the SCO. In addition, eight countries, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, have either been officially granted the status of dialogue partners or have agreed to join as new dialogue partners. Turkiye (Turkey) announced its intention to join the SCO for the first time among the NATO member states. SCO, which currently occupies regarding 24% of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP) and 41% of the world’s population in terms of population, is gradually expanding its power and is an important axis of China’s camp diplomacy in the competition for hegemony between the US and China. is taking place as
Chinese President Xi Jinping is greeted by President Shavkat Mirziyoev at Samarkand Airport in Uzbekistan on the 14th. Shinhwa Yonhap News
For China, one of the achievements is digging into a hole in which Russia’s influence in Central Asia is weakening following the Ukraine War. After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Central Asian countries, traditionally under Russian influence, feel insecure regarding their security and are active in strengthening relations with China. From China’s point of view, Central Asia is also an important strategic location in terms of economy and security, such as promoting the Belt and Road Initiative (land and sea Silk Road). President Xi delivered a message to Central Asian countries that he “firmly supports independence, sovereignty and territorial protection” and actively embraced them.
In addition to the diplomatic lines such as Yang Jiechi (杨洁篪), Political Bureau member in charge of foreign affairs of the Communist Party, and Wang Yi (王毅, State Councilor and Minister of Foreign Affairs) in charge of foreign affairs, President Xi Jinping Xuexiang, secretary of the Party Central Secretariat, and Heifeng, secretary of state development The fact that he was accompanied by a large number of key aides, including the head of the Reform Committee, shows the importance he attaches to this tour. After completing the tour, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said, “The general international opinion is that President Xi’s choice to visit Central Asia for the first time since the outbreak of COVID-19 has strategic significance, and that it is a strategic move to break through the siege of the United States with his SCO friends.” “President Xi has fully demonstrated China’s international status and increasing influence,” he said. He added, “SCO has taken a new step in its expansion and has taken the relationship between China and relevant countries to a new level.”
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