Author: Marián Šeliga
As part of his first foreign visit since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, Xi will attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Uzbekistan.
Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which will be held in Samarkand (Uzbekistan) on September 15-16. According to news agencies, during the summit, the Chinese President will also meet with his Russian counterpart to discuss a number of issues both in bilateral relations and in the international arena, including the situation in Ukraine and the widely publicized visit of N. Pelosi to Taiwan.
It should be noted that this summit is of symbolic importance, since it takes place on the eve of the long-awaited party congress in Beijing, scheduled for October 16, which is the top event of Chinese domestic politics this year. Xi Jinping’s personal participation at the SCO summit, given that this is his first outbound trip since the start of the corona pandemic, may indicate he is interested in strengthening cooperation within this organization. On the other hand, in recent years the SCO has been more of a platform for discussion and exchange of views on regional cooperation than a full-fledged effective organization. In some way, the SCO in its symbolism still resembles a discussion within the BRICS format.
On the other hand, this summit provides a very convenient platform for a face-to-face meeting between Xi and Putin to discuss accumulated issues, since Xi Jinping’s hypothetical official visit to Russia, which is under Western sanctions, could raise many questions about Beijing’s real attitude towards Russia’s current foreign policy.
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It should be noted that during the Eastern Economic Forum held last week in Vladivostok, Putin already met with the “number three” person in China, Li Zhanshu, who is a member of the Standing Committee of the Politburo of the CPC Central Committee and Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress. Li is the highest-ranking Chinese official to leave China since the start of the Covid pandemic, and it is highly likely that his participation in the forum was orchestrated to set the agenda for Xi and Putin’s next meeting in Uzbekistan.
One of the main issues discussed at the forum in Vladivostok was the construction of a new powerful gas pipeline from Russia to China, which is planned to supply gas from Siberian fields, previously intended for European countries. Putin said that Moscow and Beijing have agreed on the basic parameters of the construction and that he plans to hold a separate meeting in Uzbekistan with Xi Jinping and the president of Mongolia, through which the future pipeline will pass.
At the same time, during his first outbound trip since the start of the pandemic, Xi Jinping will visit Kazakhstan in addition to Uzbekistan. This may indicate that China will try to strengthen its ties and influence in these countries of Central Asia, taking advantage of the current international isolation of Russia and its deteriorating economic prospects. The authorities of the Central Asian countries, which were once Soviet republics, are now trying to distance themselves from the Kremlin and play a more independent role and this gives China a chance to expand influence throughout the region.
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