Listen to the news

Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Kazakhstan today for his first visit abroad since the beginning of the pandemic, reported Agence France-Presse, quoted by BTA.

The Chinese leader's plane landed in Nur Sultan, the capital of the Central Asian country, shortly after 08:00 GMT.

Xi Jinping was welcomed at the airport by the President of Kazakhstan Kassam-Jomart Tokaev.

The two leaders, their accompanying delegations and the honor guard wore masks because of the COVID epidemic.

After this visit, Xi Jinping will go to Uzbekistan, where he will participate in a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and is expected to hold talks there with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

On the eve of his trip, the Chinese leader promised to "defend common security" with Kazakhstan in an article about the Kazakh press, distributed yesterday by Chinese state television.

Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin will meet in Uzbekistan

According to Xi Jinping, China seeks to develop cooperation with Kazakhstan in the fight against drug trafficking and organized international crime, as well as against the three "flows" - terrorism, separatism and religious extremism.

The Chinese authorities use this concept to justify repression in the Xinjiang-Uyghur Autonomous Region on the border with Kazakhstan against the Uyghur Muslim population, notes AFP.

The West and human rights activists accuse China of holding more than one million Uyghurs and other Muslim minority people, including Kazakhs, in camps.

Beijing rejects the accusations of human rights violations, saying that the measures taken are directed against terrorism and aim to ensure the development of the region.

Thousands of Kazakhs have family ties to residents of Xinjiang, where the Kazakhs are the second largest Turkic-speaking group after the Uyghurs.

Kazakhstan is keen to deepen its important trade ties with China and seeks to adopt Beijing's stance on Xinjiang.

However, the country has become a rear base for activists and non-governmental organizations who criticize the situation in Xinjiang and accuse the Kazakh authorities of inaction.

China

official visit

Xi Jinping

Kazakhstan