China’s Xi meets Central Asian leaders, calls for trade, energy development

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese leader Xi Jinping has promised to build more railway and other trade links with Central Asia and proposed jointly developing oil and gas sources at a meeting with the region’s leaders that highlighted Beijing’s growing influence. The two-day China-Central Asia Summit in the western city of Xi’an came as President Joe Biden and other leaders of the Group of Seven major economies met in Japan. It reflected Beijing’s efforts to develop trade and security centered on China, which resents U.S. domination of global affairs. Central Asian governments look to the world’s second-largest economy as an important market and a source of investment.