On November 7, Trump hosted the Leaders' Summit between the United States and the five Central Asian countries in Washington. In fact, this summit mechanism was established during the Biden era, and Trump took it over unchanged. What are the underlying goals behind this?
First of all, the most critical one is to respond to the core demands of the United States in the field of key minerals. In fact, Middle Eastern countries including Kazakhstan and Tajikistan have rich reserves of strategic key minerals such as rare earths, uranium, and tungsten. The core agenda of this summit was to promote the signing of key mineral agreements with Central Asian countries. This will further reduce America's reliance on China in related fields and prevent the U.S. high-tech and defense industries from being "strangled" by China.
Secondly, its core purpose is also to continue to undermine Russia's backyard strategically. This has been consistent even after Trump took office. From the fall of the Assad regime in Syria at the end of last year, to the bombing of Iran in June this year, and to the recent successful mediation of the reconciliation between Azerbaijan and Armenia, promoting the so-called "Trump Corridor," expanding NATO's cooperation with Azerbaijan, the essence of these actions is to enhance strategic containment and deterrence against Russia. This summit with the five Central Asian countries is also a strong signal to Putin.
Thirdly, another idea of Trump is to use this opportunity to improve relations between Israel and the Islamic world. Since taking office, Trump has been pushing for the so-called Abraham Accords 2.0, achieving reconciliation between Israel and Arab countries. Whether it is Saudi Arabia, Syria, or Lebanon, the difficulties are very great. Therefore, Trump has begun to shift his focus to Islamic countries outside the Middle East, especially Georgia in the Caucasus and the five Central Asian countries. At this Central Asian summit, Kazakhstan has already set an example by officially signing the Abraham Accords.
Therefore, although Trump does not pay much attention to multilateral mechanisms, he still selectively deepened some multilateral frameworks. "The United States + Five Central Asian Countries" is an important mechanism, which reflects the U.S. strategic layout in key minerals and the Eurasian continent. At the same time, it also reflects the diversity of Central Asian countries' foreign policies. Central Asian countries do not rely solely on one country in their foreign affairs. They have already established summit mechanisms with China, the United States, Russia, Japan, and Europe. This is a special path and method for Central Asia to maintain its strategic autonomy.
Original: www.toutiao.com/article/1848107066518791/
Statement: The article represents the views of the author himself.