Advertisement Faced with dwindling gas sales to Europe, Russia has been re-routing its stranded gas reserves to countries like Uzbekistan, where infrastructure for pumping gas is already in place. This renewed cooperation presents both a problem and an opportunity for Tashkent. A flurry of recent bilateral meetings demonstrates that the Kremlin has been encouraging – … Read more
Advertisement Late next week, the presidents of Central Asia will travel to the city of Xi’an for a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev of Kazakhstan, President Sadyr Japarov of Kyrgyzstan, President Emomali Rahmon of Tajikistan, President Serdar Berdimuhamedov of Turkmenistan and President Shavkat Mirziyoyev of Uzbekistan are all expected to attend … Read more
Advertisement On May 4-5, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari embarked on a visit to India to attend a Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) meeting, marking the first visit of a Pakistani foreign minister to India in 12 years. Although no notable bilateral progress has been reported thus far, this visit assumed significance as it highlighted … Read more
Advertisement China’s foreign minister told the U.S. ambassador on Monday that Washington is responsible for the downturn in relations between the two countries and must “reflect deeply” before ties can return to a healthy track, an official said. Qin Gang’s comments follow a suspension of serious dialogue on a range of issues between the world’s … Read more
Advertisement Pakistan and Afghanistan’s Taliban regime have agreed to boost trade and lower tensions along their border amid a surge in militant attacks on security forces, officials said Monday. Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Afghanistan’s Taliban-appointed foreign minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, struck the deal Sunday in Islamabad, according to Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry. The … Read more
Advertisement A closed-door summit on Afghanistan ended Tuesday in Qatar without any formal acknowledgment of the Taliban-controlled government there, though the United Nations’ chief said they would hold another meeting in the future. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres attended the summit, which the world body described as nations and organizations trying to reach unified stances on … Read more
Tokyo Report | Diplomacy | East Asia On May 7, Japan’s prime minister will reciprocate President Yoon’s trip to Tokyo. Kishida will be the first Japanese leader to visit South Korea since 2018. South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol (left) holds a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio after the 10th High-Level Meeting of the Friends of CTBT (Comprehensive … Read more
Advertisement Enough of Indonesia’s chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has now elapsed that it is fair to ask how much the country has achieved in bringing the conflict in Myanmar to an end. Five months after taking the ceremonial gavel from last year’s chair, Cambodia, the country’s political crisis shows no … Read more
Advertisement China’s Foreign Minister Qin Gang stopped in Myanmar on May 2, en route to India for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s Foreign Ministers’ Meeting. In doing so, Qin further cemented Beijing’s willingness to work with the military regime that seized power via a coup in February 2021 – even though Myanmar has been wracked by … Read more
Crossroads Asia | Diplomacy | Central Asia Tashkent’s readouts of the president’s meetings in Berlin highlight the quest for “multifaceted” cooperation. Advertisement Shortly after a new constitution was approved via referendum in Uzbekistan, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev traveled to Germany for a two-day visit. Mirziyoyev arrived in Berlin on May 2 and met with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. There was … Read more