China’s Premier Li Qiang to visit Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Russia from 17 to 22 October, with SCO and China-Russia government talks

China’s Premier Li Qiang will visit Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Russia from 17 to 22 October, the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced on 15 October. The trip includes a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) heads of government in Dushanbe and the annual meeting between the Chinese and Russian prime ministers in Russia.

Itinerary

According to the ministry’s spokesperson, Mao Ning, Li will make an official visit to Uzbekistan on 17 and 18 October at the invitation of Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov. He will then visit Tajikistan from 18 to 20 October at the invitation of Prime Minister Kokhir Rasulzoda and attend the 25th meeting of the SCO Council of Heads of Government (Prime Ministers). From 20 to 22 October he will travel to Russia, at the invitation of Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, for the 31st regular meeting between the Chinese and Russian heads of government.

Beijing’s stated aims

Answering a question from the Xinhua news agency, Mao Ning described China and Uzbekistan as “all-weather comprehensive strategic partners for the new era” and said that Presidents Xi Jinping and Shavkat Mirziyoyev met in Bishkek in August. For Tajikistan she recalled that President Emomali Rahmon made a state visit to China in May, when the two sides signed a treaty on permanent good-neighbourliness, friendship and cooperation.

On Russia, she said this year marks the 30th anniversary of the China-Russia strategic partnership of coordination and the 25th anniversary of their Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation, and that Xi and President Vladimir Putin have met twice this year. She said the premier’s attendance would help the two countries “deliver on the important common understandings” between the presidents and expand practical cooperation.

For the SCO meeting in Dushanbe, she said Li will exchange views with other parties on implementing the outcomes of the SCO Tianjin Summit and the Bishkek Summit. These are China’s own descriptions of its aims; the ministry did not publish an agenda for the talks, and the other governments had not announced their programmes in the sources read for this article.

Other questions at the briefing

Asked by AFP about a Russian foreign ministry statement, as the reporter described it, that Sergey Lavrov gave Wang Yi a report on the 2022 killings in Bucha during their meeting in Baku on 14 October, Mao Ning said a readout of the Wang-Lavrov meeting had been released and that she had nothing to add. Asked about a report that China had agreed to restructure part of Zimbabwe’s debt, she said the competent authorities of both sides were in communication and referred reporters to them.

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