SHANGHAI -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday pledged 26 billion yuan ($3.7 billion) in fresh loans and grants to five Central Asian neighbors as Beijing looks to fill a void left by Russia in the resource-rich region.
The announcement came at the end of a two-day summit in the historic city of Xian -- once a starting point along the ancient Silk Road trading route -- with Xi unveiling a broader plan to beef up cooperation with the former Soviet states in infrastructure development, trade, energy and military exchanges.
