U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is visiting Samarkand, Uzbekistan, and Mumbai and Jamnagar in India from October 17 to 22. Global Times ran a column by Zhang Jiadong on the 20th analyzing the intent of the trip.
According to the U.S. State Department, Rubio's trip runs from October 17 to 22 and takes him to Samarkand in Uzbekistan, then to Mumbai and Jamnagar in India. Global Times on the 20th published a column by Prof. Zhang Jiadong, titled roughly What Does Rubio's Asia Trip Want to Achieve. This article focuses on the itinerary and agenda confirmed by the State Department and foreign reports, and treats the column's interpretations as the author's own views.
광고 문의 · 300×250The Central Asia leg
In Samarkand, Rubio attends the C5+1 ministerial between the United States and five Central Asian states, with bilateral meetings with senior officials from Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan. The State Department also said he leads a commercial delegation of more than 200 U.S. business leaders.
Items listed for the 19th include talks with Uzbek Foreign Minister Bakhtiyor Saidov and a welcome of Uzbekistan's signing of the Artemis Accords. The column reads the focus as critical minerals, the trans-Caspian Middle Corridor that bypasses Russia, and energy security, with the aim of turning earlier commitments into funded projects.
The India leg and the controversy
In India, Rubio skips the capital, New Delhi, and goes to Mumbai and Jamnagar. According to Al Jazeera, he meets External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar in Mumbai, then visits Reliance Industries' refinery complex in Jamnagar and attends a reception hosted by the Ambani family. The State Department lists energy cooperation, trade, investment and the U.S.-India strategic partnership; India's foreign ministry added defence and critical and emerging technologies.
No official reason has been given for leaving out New Delhi. Opposition figures criticized U.S. Ambassador Sergio Gor's remark that Washington expected Indian officials to travel to Mumbai, and Rahul Gandhi wrote that Rubio had summoned his employee to Mumbai. Tariffs, stalled trade talks and India's purchases of Russian oil are cited as background. The column argues Washington wants to steer India from Russian toward Western Hemisphere crude, but that is the author's analysis.