BEIJING — Chinese language President Xi Jinping is predicted to fulfill along with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, throughout a go to to the neighboring Central Asian nation of Uzbekistan this month, in what could be his first abroad go to because the begin of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Xi, 69, has participated in international gatherings by video hyperlink, however his bodily absence and people of different high Chinese language leaders has thrown a shadow over Beijing’s international political and financial ambitions. Xi has solely left mainland China to make a one-day go to to the semi-autonomous metropolis of Hong Kong on July 1 to talk at a ceremony commemorating the twenty fifth anniversary of its handover from British to Chinese language rule. Xi has overseen a sweeping crackdown on civil rights within the metropolis since pro-democracy protests in 2019, with opposition voices both imprisoned, pressured into exile or intimidated into silence.

Based on Russian media, Xi will attend a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Group (SCO) in Uzbekistan the place he’ll meet with Putin. The 2 final met in Beijing in January in Beijing, simply weeks earlier than Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

On that event, they issued a joint assertion declaring their relationship had “no limits.” Beijing has since refused to criticize Russian aggression and even describe it as an invasion, whereas condemning sanctions towards Moscow and accusing the U.S. and NATO of scary the battle.

WHAT ARE THE STAKES FOR XI GOING ABROAD?

Xi is at a vital inflection level in his political profession as he seeks — and is predicted to obtain — a 3rd five-year time period as Communist Celebration chief. That is a break with precedent that has restricted members of the get together’s omnipotent Politburo Standing Committee to 2 phrases in an effort to stop a return of the one-man dictatorial rule of the founding father of the Individuals’s Republic, Mao Zedong.

The get together, which brooks no opposition, has whole management over politics, data and the media and Xi faces no open threats. Nevertheless, discontent has at instances been raised over his consolidation of energy, a sharply slowing financial system, a relentless anti-corruption marketing campaign that has focused political opponents, and the hard-line “zero-COVID” measures mandating strict lockdowns, quarantines, testing and masking which have taken a toll on the financial system and society.

On the identical time, relations with the U.S., Australia and far of Europe have deteriorated over China’s human rights report, its usually abrasive diplomacy, assertions of sovereignty within the South China Sea and threats to assault Taiwan. Together with COVID-19 journey issues, all these components have contributed to Xi’s obvious reluctance to journey abroad for state visits and worldwide gatherings.

WHAT IS THE SCO AND WHAT IS XI HOPING TO GAIN?

Alongside Russia, China dominates the eight-member SCO, which additionally contains a lot of the former Soviet Central Asian states, India and Pakistan. China has used the bloc to develop its affect in what was Moscow’s yard, together with participating in multinational navy workouts displaying the capabilities of its fast-modernizing armed forces. China additionally sees the grouping as a counterweight to NATO and U.S. alliances within the Asia-Pacific.

The dynamic within the area has modified over current months, nonetheless, with the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has drawn tepid assist at finest from a lot of the different SCO members. Xi could also be hoping a gathering with Putin will bolster home perceptions of him as standing as much as Western opposition to the Ukraine battle and burnish his nationalist credentials at a time relations with the U.S. are rising more and more tense over commerce, know-how, Taiwan and different points.

Coming simply forward of the get together congress, the abroad go to would additionally present Xi is assured of his place and assist among the many get together’s 96 million members, his six colleagues on the Politburo Standing Committee and leaders of the get together’s {powerful} navy department, the Individuals’s Liberation Military. As all the time, the get together stays swathed in a veil of secrecy, and journey by high leaders is sort of by no means introduced till the final minute, and even not till they return from their journeys.

WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT XI’S TRAVEL PLANS?

Xi and Putin will meet within the Uzbek metropolis of Samarkand on Sept. 15-16, Russian Ambassador to China Andrei Denisov was quoted as saying by Russia’s state information company, TASS.

Xi can be anticipated to attend a summit of the Group of 20 main wealthy and growing nations in Indonesia in mid-November, bolstering China’s place because the world’s second largest financial system and a key hyperlink in provide chains for items from cellphones to dishwashers. Individually, China has instructed Thailand that Xi will attend a gathering in Bangkok of the Asia-Pacific Financial Cooperation discussion board shortly after the G-20, “if he isn’t preoccupied with different duties.”

Many leaders mix a visit to APEC and the G-20. China has not confirmed that Xi will attend both gathering.



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