The optics are unmistakable: while the G7 meets in the Japanese city bombed by weapons of mass destruction to forces Japanese leaders to end the war to condemn China for what they see as “coercive economics”, and while Russia is battling NATO in a proxy war in Ukraine, China hosts a summit with the leaders of the Muslim-majority countries that were part of the Soviet Union to promote regional security, autonomy, and economic development. The summit with these Muslim leaders is also held in a region in China that has a Muslim majority. The dawn of the multipolar world is here. And the Chinese media and Chinese political leaders are now holding back now.
The news:
China stands ready to synergize development strategies with the five Central Asian nations of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, and make joint efforts to promote the modernization of all six countries, said Xi in an address at the China-Central Asia Summit in northwest China.
"The world needs a Central Asia that is stable, prosperous, harmonious, and well-connected," Xi said.
"China is ready to help Central Asian countries improve their law enforcement, security, and defense capability construction," Xi said.
The report from China:
Experts told the Global Times the grand ceremony to welcome leaders of Central Asian countries and making the "first major diplomatic event that China hosts this year" focus on Central Asian countries show Central Asian countries' growing importance in China's diplomatic agenda.
Wang Xiaoquan, an expert from the Institute of Russian, East European and Central Asian Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times that Central Asian countries' unique strategic importance to China has been highlighted by current international and regional circumstances. "Central Asia is China's strategic rear in coping with risks from the eastern side," he explained.
When the US is rallying its allies against China, China needs a stable Central Asia, Wang explained, noting that the region's safety also has a far-fetching impact on China's Northwestern region.
The region's importance to China is also embodied by both sides' cooperation on energy. For example, China once received 30 percent of its natural gas imports through the China-Central Asia pipeline. Residents in Beijing, Shanghai and some other cities already use natural gas from Turkmenistan.
From the big picture, since the Russia-Ukraine crisis, camp confrontation mentality has gained momentum in international society. For China and Central Asian countries, cooperation can promote regional peace and stability, sending signal different from camp confrontation and avoid the world sliding into bigger confrontation, Zhao Huirong, an Eastern European studies expert from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times.
Contrasting signals
In another summit to be held in Japan between May 19 and 21, G7 leaders seek to hammer out a unified response to Chinese "economic coercion." The Wall Street Journal, cited sources saying that the US and its allies "are poised to increase pressure on China at this week's Group of Seven summit in Japan, with an expected joint statement rejecting use of economic retaliation against nations over policy disputes and other disagreements."
Western media began to draw parallel of the two summits, depicting China-Central Asia Summit as China's effort to counter the G7 summit. "The two meetings symbolize the calcification of a multipolar world in which Global South nations are being courted as important strategic partners," Bloomberg reported on Thursday.
"I don't think the convening of China-Central Asia Summit is deliberately arranged at overlapping time with G7, as high-level leaders' summit requires a long time to prepare in advance," said Wang Xiaoquan. Yet Wang opined that the two summits, held at approximately the same time and within close adjacency, send "meaningful signals" to the world.
G7 focuses on discussion of domination of world order and monopoly of international economy; whilst China and Central Asian countries, all developing countries, seek to build a fairer and more rational world order, said Wang. The expert predicted six leaders at the China-Central Asia Summit will discuss China proposed Global Security Initiative and Global Development Initiative, in addition to the Belt and Road Initiative and other topics, which represent the trend of world development.
Qian Feng, director of the research department at the National Strategy Institute at Tsinghua University, told the Global Times that China-Central Asia Summit speaks the language of openness, inclusiveness and win-win cooperation; and does not target any third party; whilst G7 uses the outmoded mentality of Cold War to crackdown and ring-fence certain countries.
Reporting by China's Global Times
The G7 summit in Hiroshima will be held from Friday to Sunday. According to media reports, G7 leaders will discuss concerns about China's so-called economic coercion in its dealings abroad as part of their larger joint statement.Li pointed out that to suppress China's development momentum for its own selfish gains, the US has continually created conflict and harmed prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region through economic and diplomatic coercion, as well as by wooing its allies. He added that what the US has done in the past 30 years across the world has clearly shown that it is the greatest source of danger and disruption to regional stability and order.
From the GT Editorial: China releases report unveiling dark side of US coercive diplomacy ahead of G7 summit
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