Trump's meeting with Central Asia's leaders should give middle powers hope

US President Donald Trump attends a dinner with the leaders of the five Central Asian countries at the White House in Washington last week. Reuters

The first White House C5+1 summit took place last week – that’s the five Central Asian nations of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, plus the US. “I understand the importance of this region,” said their host, US President Donald Trump – and he’s not alone.

Last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin was in Tajikistan for a Russia-Central Asia summit. In June, Chinese President Xi Jinping met the C5 leaders at a China-Central Asia summit in Kazakhstan. And the first EU-Central Asia summit took place in Uzbekistan in April.

A year ago, I wrote in these pages of the region’s growing importance, and yet it appears that outside certain foreign policy circles, the White House summit attracted such a low level of attention that one former US ambassador described it as “an atypical instance of substance with little fanfare” on the part of the Trump administration. To be fair, Mr Trump did say that “these nations were once home to the ancient Silk Road connecting East and West”, before adding, less accurately, that “sadly, previous American presidents neglected this region completely”.

In fact, Mr Trump’s own predecessor, Joe Biden, held a meeting with the C5 leaders in 2023, but it was in New York and on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. Last week’s summit was a big step up, as US ambassador and special envoy Sergio Gor underlined when he told the C5 that Mr Trump’s “commitment to this region is that you have a direct line to the White House, and that you will get the attention that this area very much deserves”.

The lack of “fanfare” is more reflective of the media coverage of the event, and that in turn may be representative of the fact that general knowledge of these five former Soviet republics is not high. If, however, it is true that rare earths and other minerals are going to be the “oil of the 21st century”, then that is a situation that should change, and fast. This is because the C5 countries have deep reserves of rare earths and are believed to possess far more in vast areas of so far unsurveyed lands.

Central Asia has 38.6 per cent of the world’s manganese ore and 30.07 per cent of its chromium – both used for a variety of industrial purposes – and produces about half the world’s uranium, critical to nuclear power production.

A rare earth metals mine in China's Jiangxi province. The country, which produces more than 90 per cent of global rare earth products, is considering restrictions on their export

In 2023, Kazakhstan exported nearly $5 billion worth of rare earths to Russia and China, compared to only $540 million to the US. With Beijing – which produces more than 90 per cent of global rare earth products – considering restrictions on their export, it is in Washington’s interest to find other sources for elements that are crucial for so many technologies, from MRI scans to electric vehicles, not to mention most aspects of the modern defence industry.

At the White House, the C5 leaders pledged that they would spend billions buying American planes and agricultural products, and they were fulsome in their praise of their host. “None of the presidents of the United States of America ever treated Central Asia as you do,” Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev said. “In Uzbekistan, we call you the president of the world.”

Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev addressed Mr Trump as the “President of Peace” who “brought to an end eight wars within eight months”, and said his country would join the Abraham Accords, which the US President considers to be a signature achievement of his first term in office.

At the same time, the C5 leaders knew they were in a good position – they want investment to help them produce and process their mineral bounty (as well as locate what are thought to be a huge number of undiscovered deposits). US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told them exactly what they wanted to hear. “We oftentimes spend so much time focused on crisis and problems – and they deserve attention – that sometimes we don’t spend enough time focused on exciting new opportunities,” Mr Rubio said. “And that’s what exists here now: an exciting new opportunity in which the national interests of our respective countries are aligned.”

The meeting also showed that it is not necessary for middling and smaller countries to “take sides” with one or more great powers. Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are members of the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation and, with the addition of Uzbekistan, the Beijing-led Shanghai Co-operation Organisation. But their leaders’ presence in the White House demonstrates that this in no way precludes them from being partners with the US in order to further their own economic progress.

If the summit leads to mutual success, it would be a chance to show that 'win-win co-operation' is possible

Indeed, shortly after praising Mr Trump in Washington, Mr Tokayev was in Moscow, where he published an article saying: “All achievements in bilateral co-operation are inextricably linked to the energetic and productive efforts of President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin. In Kazakhstan, he enjoys unwavering respect as a statesman of global stature.”

Some have complained that the C5’s White House meeting was all about business, and that the US should have put various human rights issues on the table as well. But that isn’t Mr Trump’s approach, and the Central Asian leaders would be far from alone if they welcomed a US president who has criticised “western interventionalists” and “people in beautiful planes” flying in to give other countries “lectures on how to live and how to govern your own affairs”, as he did in Riyadh last May.

It may irritate some who insist on seeing the world in binary terms, but so far it would seem that the summit also proved that it is feasible for a group of smallish countries (the C5 has an overall population of 85 million) to pursue a policy of being “friends with everyone” while retaining strategic autonomy.

It helps that they have mineral wealth as leverage, of course – and that, on its own, is a reason the Central Asian countries deserve far more attention. But if the summit leads to mutual success, it would also be a chance to prove the cynics wrong, and show that what China calls “win-win co-operation” really is possible.