Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Bishkek on Aug. 30, opening a state visit to Kyrgyzstan folded into the same trip as the SCO summit. A state visit to Egypt is scheduled to follow.
Chinese President Xi Jinping landed at Manas International Airport in Bishkek on the afternoon of Aug. 30. Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov met him at the airport.
광고 문의 · 300×250Xi issued a written statement on arrival. Chinese state media said the trip combines attendance at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit with state visits to Kyrgyzstan and Egypt.
The delegation
State media said Peng Liyuan accompanied Xi, and that Cai Qi, director of the Central Committee's General Office, and Foreign Minister Wang Yi were part of the delegation.
A foreign minister travelling with the head of state is a standard arrangement on trips that pair bilateral talks with multilateral events.
China and Kyrgyzstan
The two countries share a border and have cooperated on transport, energy and agricultural trade. In recent years rail links and simplified customs handling have featured prominently in working-level talks.
Media in both countries describe people-to-people exchange as expanding, citing student exchanges, language education and cultural events.
Next on the itinerary
A state visit to Egypt is set to follow the Kyrgyzstan leg. China's foreign ministry announced the itinerary on Aug. 26.
The specific understandings reached on each visit will be verifiable through the joint documents the governments release afterwards.
Seen from Korea
Logistics conditions on Central Asian routes affect Korean firms' entrepot trade as well. Better rail links shorten transit on some segments relative to sea freight, though customs and transhipment procedures often remain the bottleneck.
This paper follows the trip from the standpoint of transport and trade practice rather than political interpretation. Whether items in any agreement actually change shipping conditions will become clear at the implementation stage.
