Russian President Vladimir Putin has arrived in Beijing for talks with Xi Jinping, with the Kremlin hoping to deepen the strategic partnership between two of the United States’ most powerful geopolitical rivals.
State news agency Xinhua confirmed his arrival on Thursday as a state visit from an “old friend”. The two leaders will participate in an evening of celebrations marking the 75th anniversary of Mao Zedong’s recognition of the People’s Republic of China in 1949 and the Soviet Union’s recognition of the People’s Republic of China.
Kremlin foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov said the two leaders will hold informal talks over tea on Thursday night, touching on topics including Ukraine, Asia, energy and trade.
President Putin will also visit Harbin in northeastern China, which has deep ties with Russia. It was not immediately clear whether Putin would visit other Asian capitals after Beijing.
In February 2022, during President Putin’s visit to Beijing, days before sending tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine, sparking Europe’s deadliest ground war since World War II, China and Russia announced “restrictions”. declared a partnership of “None”.
By choosing China for his first foreign trip since taking office, a term that will keep him in power until at least 2030, Putin is sending a message to the world about his priorities and the depth of his personal relationship with Xi. sending.
In an interview with China’s Xinhua News Agency, President Putin praised President Xi for building a “strategic partnership” with Russia based on national interests and deep mutual trust.
President Putin said, “The unprecedented level of strategic partnership between our two countries was the deciding factor in choosing China as the first country I would visit after officially taking office as President of the Russian Federation.” .
“We will strive to establish close cooperation in industry and high technology, space and peaceful nuclear energy, artificial intelligence, renewable energy sources and other innovative fields,” Putin said.
He also said it was Beijing’s “genuine desire” to help end the war in Ukraine.
“This is President Putin’s first visit since taking office, and it is aimed at showing that Sino-Russian relations have risen to a new level,” Konstantin Karachev, an independent Russian political analyst, told AFP. Told. “Not to mention the visible and sincere personal friendship between the two leaders.”
While the United States views China as its biggest competitor and Russia as its nation-state’s greatest threat, President Joe Biden insists that this century will be defined by the existential struggle between democracy and authoritarian states.
Putin and Xi are pushing the West to become decadent and decadent, just as China is challenging U.S. hegemony in everything from quantum computing and synthetic biology to espionage and hard military power. They share a broad worldview.
China has strengthened its trade and military ties with Russia in recent years as the United States and its allies have imposed sanctions on both countries, particularly Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
Western countries say China played a key role in helping Russia withstand sanctions and provided key technology that Russia used on the battlefield in Ukraine. China claims to be neutral in the conflict, but despite President Vladimir Putin’s declaration that he wants to restore century-old borders with Russia as the reason for the attack, Russia has It supports Moscow’s claim that it was provoked into attacking Ukraine.
China, once Moscow’s junior partner in the world communist hierarchy, remains Russia’s most powerful friend in the world.
Putin’s arrival was also aimed at warning China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, against deepening military aid to Russia, and followed U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to Beijing late last month. It is.
In addition to President Putin’s newly appointed Defense Minister Andrei Belousov, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Secretary of the Security Council Sergei Shoigu, Foreign Policy Adviser Yuri Ushakov, Russia’s most powerful CEO ( CEO) will also be in attendance.
It was not immediately clear whether Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller would travel to China as he was on a working visit to Iran on Wednesday.
