Chinese President Xi Jinping's first trip outside of China in almost three years will showcase strong ties with Russia, despite the two countries' competition for influence in Central Asia, and enable Beijing to improve diplomatic relations with developing countries. But China's resumption of in-person diplomacy will do little to ease tensions with the West. Xi will visit Kazakhstan to speak with President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on Sept. 14, according to a Sept. 5 announcement from the Kazakh foreign ministry. Thereafter, he will travel to Uzbekistan to attend a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) -- a group of Central Asian states, along with Russia and China, that primarily cooperate on security matters -- on Sept. 15-16, according to the SCO's Telegram account on Sept. 4. On the sidelines of that meeting, Xi will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to statements given to TASS state media by Russian Ambassador...
