And Japan makes it five for the C5 in 2025. The heads of state of the five Central Asian countries are traveling to Japan for a December 19-20 summit hosted by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takachi under a format dubbed C5+1. It marks the fifth such “C5+1” summit for Central Asian leaders this year, following similar gatherings each involving a different major global power — China, the European Union, Russia, and the United States. Each C5+1 meeting has followed roughly the same script with bilateral meetings, a plenary session,…