President Rahmon left China August 8th after attending the opening ceremonies in Beijing.  Hopefully he got the chance to cheer on Dzakhon Kurbanov to overwhelming and  surprising victory over the world boxing champion, Abbos Atoev.  Rahmon did apparently find time to talk about geopolitics, according to the official Tajik presidential website:

Emomali Rahmon, and the chairman of the People’s Republic of China, Hu Jintao, had constructive talks on bilateral and multifaceted relations between the two countries, including preparations for a regular summit of the heads of state of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization member states,”

As promised, further quotes from the Ambassador of Tajikistan to China can provide some context for similar meetings of the two leaders:

In the past decades, our two countries have established a solid foundation on legislation and signed 105 treaties, the most important one of which was the “treaty of friendly cooperation between neighbors China and Tajikistan.” The chief designers of our friendship are the leaders of our two countries. They meet once a year or sometimes twice a year and last year the president of Tajikistan made an official visit to China.

Much of the quote is typical diplomatic emphasis on a lasting and meaningful relationship, yet the meeting itself is relevant in light of recent events in Xinjiang and the continuing regional energy needs reported by Vadim.  The Olympics visit could have been a rare and valuable opportunity to raise genuine concerns with Tajikistan’s most powerful neighbor while laying the foundation for more substantial diplomacy at the SCO summit.