Xi to visit Kazakhstan, first foreign visit in 32 months

Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit Kazakhstan in Central Asia. This is Xi's first foreign visit in 32 months since his visit to Myanmar in January 2020, just before the massive spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Bloomberg News on Tuesday, Aibek Smadiyarov, spokesman for the Kazakhstan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, announced that President Xi would visit Kazakhstan on Sept. 14. Xi is said to be meeting with Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to sign a number of agreements.

After that, the Chinese president is expected to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit to be held in Samarkand, Uzbekistan on Sept. 15. It is expected that he will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin at this meeting. Xi and Putin, who met at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics last February. If the meeting goes as planned, it will be for the first since the outbreak of the Ukraine war.

According to analysts, Xi chose Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan as his first visit destinations since the outbreak of COVID-19 because both countries are core countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, led by China and Russia.


Ki-Yong Kim kky@donga.com