Xi Campaigns to Counter the West in the Uneasy ‘Stans

But there’s less than meets the eye

The Central Asian Summit convened this week by President Xi Jinping in the western China city (and once capital) of Xian has all the appearance of a Chinese diplomatic triumph, with Xi unveiling an ambitious plan described as designed “to help elevate Central Asia to the next level of its development” from building infrastructure networks to boosting tr…