ASTANA, Kazakhstan—Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev easily won a new seven-year term in a snap election in which the second biggest choice by voters was to reject all six candidates, the country’s central elections commission said Monday. Tokayev received more than 81 percent of the votes in Sunday’s election, according to elections commission chairman Nurlan Abdirov….

Beijing is taking steps to solidify its sphere of influence, including from close ally Russia, with Chinese leader Xi Jinping delivering the strong message during an official visit to Kazakhstan. Xi told officials China was keen to nurture relations with Kazakhstan and opposed any interference in the Central Asian country. “No matter how the international…

Large-scale protests recently broke out in Kazakhstan, with the country’s president ordering the military to suppress it with force. Chinese communist leader Xi Jinping praised the Kazakh president’s actions in the situation as “decisive” and “strong.” Experts say there are multiple factors behind the outbreak of civil unrest in Kazakh that have made the CCP…