FILE – From left: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Tajikistan President Imomali Rakhmon, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Uzbekistan’s President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and President of Pakistan Mamnoon Hussain pose for a photo prior to their talks at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit in Qingdao in eastern China’s Shandong Province on June 10, 2018. China’s leader Xi Jinping will travel to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan starting Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2022 in his first trip abroad since the early days of the pandemic. China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a short statement Monday that Xi will attend a meeting of the heads of state of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Samarkand while on the state visit to Uzbekistan. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)