SPOTTED! Xi Jinping Out Of China At Last!

After the outbreak of the pandemic in the country he has ruled with an iron hand in recent years, Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist party of China, has mostly stayed put in Beijing.

His last trip abroad was to Myanmar in January 2020. He also visited Hong Kong -- but HK is now a like-the-others-freedom-stifled province of China -- on June 30/July 1 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Britain's handover of the island to the People's Republic.

A month and two days before Chinese Communist leaders from various provinces gather in Beijing on October 16 for the 20th party congress -- which is expected to give Xi an unprecedented third term in office (his predecessors Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao adhered to the two terms mandated by Deng Xiaoping) and perhaps even elevate him to Mao Zedong status and anoint him leader for life -- Xi, who is also China's president, left Beijing.

First to Nur-Sultan -- the capital of Kazakhstan, soon to revert to its original name, Astana -- on Wednesday, September 14, and then to Samarkhand in Uzbekistan to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit.

The summit will be held in person after two years providing a rare opportunity for all its eight leaders to meet on the sidelines of the event for face-to-face talks.

Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi will be in Samarkhand too, but it is not yet clear if he will meet Xi for a one to one meeting.

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will also be in attendance -- the last time Modi and the junior Sharif met was in Lahore on December 25, 2015 when the Indian prime minister made a surprise visit to Pakistan to attend the senior Sharif -- Nawaz's grand-daughter's wedding.

IMAGE: Xi is welcomed by Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on his arrival in Nur-Sultan. All Photographs: Press service of the President of Kazakhstan/Handout via Reuters

IMAGE: Xi and Tokayev at a ceremony before official talks in Nur-Sultan.

IMAGE: Tokayev's government said the two leaders discussed energy and trade. It was in Astana (Nursultan Nazarbayev was still in power then and the capital city had not yet been named after him) that Xi announced his Belt and Road Initiative in 2017.

IMAGE: Xi and Tokayev at a signing ceremony.

IMAGE: The Kazakh leader thanked Xi for his visit which he said holds a 'historic significance' for Kazakhstan as it came at a time of 'escalation of international tensions'.

IMAGE: Tokayev presents Xi Kazakhstan's highest state award.

IMAGE: Both leaders visit an exhibition Kazakhstan-China: Dialogue of Millenniums in Nur-Sultan. China and Kazakhstan share a border that is 1,782.75 km long.
The India-China border, on the other hand, is 3,488 km long.

Photographs curated by Manisha Kotian/Rediff.com
Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com