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Eurasianet (20 May 2021)

Srdjan Uljevic

At gathering last week in central China, Foreign Minister Wang Yi promised his Central Asian counterparts all sorts of investments and new initiatives. But nothing on his list promises to be as symbolic as the nature of the meeting itself.

Held in Xi’an, the traditional starting point of the ancient Silk Road, the May 12 get-together was the first time the foreign ministers of the six countries met in person without other mediators. (The group met online last July, for a conclave that looked like a dress rehearsal.)

The meeting signaled a new chapter in how Beijing approaches Central Asia: Confidently, and with little concern for what Russia thinks.

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