United States President Donald Trump will host the heads of five Central Asian countries – Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan – in an annual summit in Washington, DC, on Thursday. The group, founded in 2015, is known as C5+1, which refers to the five Central Asian countries and the US. According to the US…
As Chinese leader Xi Jinping walked down a red carpet on Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in early September flanked by Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un at a heavily choreographed military parade, another story about China’s expanded influence was unfolding on the sidelines. While Xi sent messages of resolve aimed at the…
Amid escalating geopolitical tensions including the Israel-Iran conflict and renewed strife between India and Pakistan, China is leaning on regional diplomacy to safeguard its strategic interests. Central Asia stands out as a zone of stability, offering Beijing both geographic proximity and strategic opportunity. On June 17, the leaders of China and five Central Asian states…