CCTV FOLLIES 5.18 Xian: China's back door?

Central Asian leaders convene in Xian -Echoes of Chang'an and Silk Road -Xi reigns supreme -Li Qiang pointing at things -World Intelligence Congress! -Ukraine grain -No to G7, No to War!

Central Asian leaders meet Xi Jinping in Xian, a Silk Road site of immense historic significance in dealings with Central Asia since the days of Chang’an and the Tang Dynasty. It provides a suitably “familial” scaled-down venue compared to cold pomp and glory of the hallowed, hollow halls of the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

Scaled down though it is, the Xian meeting hall is not without its architectural grandeur, and leaders here, as in Beiijng get the red carpet treatment the minute they step out of their gleaming limos. Xian is being used here a “back door” entry for VIP visitors, an especially apt gesture for visitors from contiguous Central Asian states, who are deemed “close” enough to China, in politics and geography alike, to merit informal entry.

Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev is the first to arrive.

Kazakhstan is the largest “st…