No one has seen Xi Jinping outside of Chinese soil since the start of the Covid pandemic, so more than two and a half years ago. His last trip abroad dates from January 2020, it was in Burma, for a state visit. Immediately after, it was the confinement of the city of Wuhan, the starting point of the pandemic. We know the rest.
With this so-called “zero Covid” Chinese policy: total, health and political lockdown. In other words, for 970 days, the Chinese president has not left the borders of his country. He drastically limited direct meetings with foreign leaders, and preferred virtual diplomacy, by interposed screens.
The only exception: the opening of the Winter Olympics in Beijing last February. He then hosted several heads of state, including Vladimir Putin. It was just before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. And it is therefore this same Vladimir Putin that Xi Jinping will find during a trip to Uzbekistan and also to Kazakhstan, two of the former Soviet republics of Central Asia. This is no coincidence, of course. This is a sign of Beijing’s support for Moscow.
During this 48-hour trip, Xi Jinping will make brief state visits to the two countries concerned, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Kazakhstan, where Pope Francis is also located, but nothing suggests a meeting between the two men. And above all, the central reason for this move is the SCO summit (Shanghai Cooperation Organization) in Samarkand, the mythical city of the Silk Roads in Uzbekistan. First face-to-face summit in three years.
The SCO is an Asian alternative to the Western G7. It brings together China, Russia, India, Pakistan, and four Central Asian countries, representing 40% of the planet’s population. And the moment that everyone will be watching is the meeting with Vladimir Putin, perhaps Thursday, September 15. Beijing says it wants “to promote with Moscow a fairer world”.
Without providing massive support to Russia, China has nevertheless symbolically sided with Moscow since the start of the war in Ukraine. This is evidenced by the 30% increase in trade between the two countries in one year (notably Chinese exports of cars and smartphones), Beijing’s refusal of Western sanctions, payment in rubles or yuan to avoid the dollar, without forget joint military exercises in the Far East.
As always with Chinese power, it is also a message for the Chinese domestic political scene. For Beijing, it is systematically the number one priority. In this case for Xi Jinping, it is a question of consolidating his international stature just one month before the 20th Congress of the Communist Party, the great political moment in China which will begin on October 16. The president intends to strengthen his supremacy and validate a third consecutive term at the head of the country.
It is also this calendar which explains the new wave of confinements which is hitting the country: 60 million people confined in more than 30 cities. Nothing must exceed, so zero risk with the Covid as Congress approaches.