New Delhi, July 7 -- China's President Xi Jinping celebrated his 72nd birthday laying the foundation of a new regional order in Central Asia. Anchoring China as the primary driver of strategic engagement in the region and Central Asia as a priority within China's neighbourhood diplomacy, Xi delivered a "pioneering initiative in China's diplomatic engagement with its neighbors" by signing the Treaty on Eternal Good-Neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation.

The Treaty, coupled with China's broad economic, diplomatic and security engagement of Central Asian states, has cultivated a sphere of influence for China to advance its regional and global interests. It heralds the development of a highly institutionalised, China-led regional order ...