Sergey Stankevich
The chairmanship of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization will pass from Kazakhstan in rotation to China.
Thus, Xi Jinping will become twice chairman. When taking over the presidency, Xi just said in Astana: China is ready to jointly build an even closer community of common destiny with all SCO member countries. Including Russia.
But while Russia is at war, China’s first priority in establishing a common destiny will remain… yes, Central Asia.
In 2025, the second China-Central Asia summit will be held in Kazakhstan, and this mechanism for involving China-Central Asia will only strengthen.
Russia’s policy towards Central Asia still lacks doctrinal consistency and systematicity. Having a huge head start in terms of language and historical coherence, Russia could realize this capital much more successfully.
Yuri Chekalin
Lucy Dickerson
