The Chinese President Xi Jinping to visit Kazakhstan for the first time since the pandemic
The Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit Kazakhstan on September 14, according to the Kazakh Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in what would be his first trip abroad since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Xi will meet with the Kazakh President, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, and sign a series of bilateral documents, said the ministry spokesperson, Aibek Smadiyarov, at a press briefing.
Beijing, which gives little advance notice of Xi's movements, has not confirmed his visit to Kazakhstan, and the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to a request for comments.
Xi, expected to secure an unprecedented third term of leadership at the ruling Chinese Communist Party congress starting October 16, has not left China since the country practically closed its borders to international travel under its "zero-covid" policy in 2020.
Kazakhstan maintains close ties with China, supplying minerals, metals, and energy to its eastern neighbor and transshipping goods between China and Europe.
Last month, The Wall Street Journal reported that Xi was considering traveling to Central Asia to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and other leaders at a Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit scheduled for September 15-16 in the Uzbek city of Samarkand.
Last month, a former advisor to the Indonesian President said that Xi and Putin will attend the G20 summit in November on the tourist island of Bali.
Xi and Putin have grown closer, and shortly before the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, Beijing and Moscow announced a "limitless" partnership.
Xi made his first trip outside mainland China since early 2020 when he visited Hong Kong on June 30 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of its handover from British control.