Chinese Premier Li Qiang meets Tajikistan's President Rahmon

Chinese Premier Li Qiang holds a meeting with Tajikistan's President Emomali Rahmon in Beijing ahead of China-Central Asia summit in the western city of Xi'an. The summit is likely to see efforts to push ahead with vast transport links and pipelines, including a long-stalled $6 billion China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway and an expansion of the Central Asia-to-China gas pipeline.

Around 150 countries have received Chinese funds to build roads, ports, railways or hydroelectric dams. Beijing says trade with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan reached $70 billion in 2022 and expanded 22 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2023.