Amid strategic uncertainty in the international arena, China is intensifying attempts to counter the worldwide influence of the United States. A handful of times back, Chinese President Xi Jinping named for the World-wide South to have a larger say in global affairs, emphasizing that producing countries “need to be at the forefront of advertising and marketing the setting up of a neighborhood with a shared upcoming for humanity.” Concerns are mounting that increasing confrontations, not only amongst Beijing and Washington but also between other significant powers, could additional destabilize the present world program. However, an not likely source—Kazakhstan, the Central Asian nation web hosting the Shanghai Cooperation Corporation (SCO) summit in its funds, Astana, this week—is ready to contribute to lowering tensions and shifting the worldwide agenda towards dialogue alternatively than conflict. This is reflected in the summit’s topic, “Strengthening Multilateral Dialogue – Striving In the direction of a Sustainable Peace and Prosperity.”
Xi’s assertion arrives amid China’s ongoing geopolitical tussle with the West, alongside joint military services physical exercises in the East China Sea by the United States, Japan, and South Korea, highlighting the big powers’ intent on rivalry.
Making use of its position as chair of the SCO, which is not a navy bloc but a regional organization symbolizing more than three billion people—about forty five% of the world’s population—Kazakhstan is advertising an choice concept. As a substitute of confrontation and bloc mentality, Astana is advocating for diplomacy as a signifies to bolster believe in and a secure world-wide order.
Despite currently being the ninth-most significant state in the globe, Kazakhstan has been underestimated for its political impact. Having said that, this notion has been transforming considering that President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s election in 2019, culminating in internet hosting the SCO summit with leaders from China, Russia, Pakistan, other users of the SCO, as very well as UN Secretary-General António Guterres.
How did Kazakhstan deal with to posture by itself prominently on the geopolitical map?
Over the previous few decades, Kazakhstan has been pursuing a pragmatic and balanced overseas plan. As President Tokayev recently pointed out, this approach is rooted in the country’s determination to multilateral cooperation and adherence to the United Nations Charter.
Prioritizing its national pursuits, Kazakhstan has adeptly well balanced its relations with the two neighboring giants – China and Russia – when fostering ties with Europe and the United States. Past 12 months, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Kazakhstan to deepen bilateral cooperation. In the exact 12 months, French President Emmanuel Macron and British isles International Secretary James Cleverly also travelled to Astana to fortify their countries’ strategic and financial ties with Kazakhstan – their major associate in Central Asia.
As a result of its diversified foreign policy, Kazakh diplomacy has been actively included in obtaining compromise alternatives to sophisticated worldwide difficulties. For instance, since 2017, the Central Asian state has been web hosting the Astana Procedure, bringing together representatives from Syria, Russia, Türkiye, and Iran to seek out resolutions to the Syrian conflict. On top of that, on May perhaps ten-eleven, Kazakhstan hosted Azerbaijani and Armenian International Ministers Jeyhun Bayramov and Ararat Mirzoyan in Almaty to explore the normalization of relations among their nations around the world. When Kazakhstan did not act as a mediator, it illustrated that advertising cooperation and dialogue stays a priority in its overseas plan. This is obvious as Astana recently proposed a platform for talks involving Russia and Ukraine.
Kazakhstan’s favourable relations with countries normally in conflict, these kinds of as Russia and Ukraine, China and the United States, Azerbaijan and Armenia, and Israel and the Palestinian territories, grant Astana legitimacy to act as a buffer and stabilizing pressure between important powers. This positioning enables Kazakhstan to lower tensions and potentially mediate conflicts. Beneath the leadership of President Tokayev, a former diplomat and Director-Common of the U.N. Office environment at Geneva, Kazakhstan is gaining regard and authority not only amongst its neighbors but also among the leaders in the West, Asia, and the Middle East.
That is why Kazakhstan is leveraging the SCO summit in Astana to advertise the message that diplomacy, somewhat than hostilities, is essential to resolving disagreements. President Tokayev proposed the joint improvement of the SCO Initiative “On Globe Unity for Just Peace and Harmony,” emphasizing the relevance of collaboration amid member states to foster world-wide stability and peace. This political initiative has been given unanimous guidance from all SCO member states and will be adopted at the Astana Summit.
“Hosting these kinds of a large-scale event demonstrates our country’s considerable authority on the world-wide phase,” the Kazakh leader pressured on June 27 at a meeting with media representatives.
The SCO summit in Astana signals a shift in international power dynamics, with center powers like Kazakhstan assuming greater responsibility in creating new principles for a steady world buy.
The Central Asian country is regarded as a dependable and predictable lover, counterbalancing the belligerent rhetoric usually applied by fantastic powers. Having said that, persuading these powers to prioritize diplomacy over confrontation is simpler claimed than performed. Central Asia is properly conscious of the impacts of fantastic electric power rivalry, obtaining been the phase for the “Great Game” in earlier superpower confrontations.
But in the recent turbulent international political and economic ailments, Kazakhstan is advertising and marketing a narrative of “Big Opportunities” as a substitute of the “Great Activity,” concentrating on the possibilities provided by Central Asia’s untapped all-natural methods and the opportunity of expanding trade routes between Asia and Europe that traverse the region, including the Trans-Caspian Intercontinental Transport Route. Astana is persistently telling the world that cooperation and dialogue will guide to worldwide prosperity. However, only time will tell if the earth powers will hear.
[Representational image: SCO summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan in 2022. Credit: Prime Minister’s Office, India, via Wikimedia Commons]
The sights and thoughts expressed in this short article are individuals of the writer.
Professor Michael Rossi is an esteemed college member in the Office of Political Science at Prolonged Island University, Usa, and Director of the Global Studies Plan. He is also a University Teacher at Rutgers College, Usa.
