Vladimir Putin to arrive in Beijing for state visit hot on heels of Trump | China

Vladimir Putin will arrive in Beijing on Tuesday for an official visit, four days after Donald Trump left China.

Putin’s 25th visit to China reflects Beijing’s growing confidence on the world stage as the center of global diplomatic activities, according to Chinese state media.

This also underlines the deep relationship between Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping. The two men met more than 40 times; This far surpasses any encounter Xi has had with any Western leader.

“Hosting two of the world’s most powerful leaders in a matter of days shows China’s growing confidence in its place and standing in the world,” said William Yang, a senior analyst at the International Crisis Group.

He said Xi “most likely wanted to remind Trump that Beijing has other solid and solid relationships that it can rely on, so Washington cannot easily isolate or harm Beijing if it attempts to do so.”

Putin’s visit took place as he entered perhaps the most difficult period of his long rule. As Russia has made little progress on the battlefield in Ukraine this year, its dictator image is beginning to erode. Russia’s growing economic problems are increasing its dependence on China and turning the relationship that the Kremlin framed as a partnership of equals into a much more unbalanced relationship.

The Russian leader published a statement video address On the eve of the visit to China. He said China-Russia relations had reached “an unprecedented level”, pointing to the countries’ soaring bilateral trade, the fact that settlements were conducted nearly entirely in rubles and yuan rather than the US dollar, and mutual visa-free policies for Chinese and Russian travellers.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said on Tuesday: “The friendship between China and Russia will become deeper and more deeply rooted in people’s hearts, thanks to the strategic guidance of Xi and Putin.”

This year marks 30 years since Beijing and Moscow signed a strategic partnership agreement, and 25 years since they signed the “good neighborliness and friendly cooperation agreement”.

Putin’s remarks on non-dollar transactions underscore the extent to which the two countries are trying to increase their resilience to Western sanctions that rely on the dominance of the US dollar to be effective.

China does not comply with Western sanctions against Russia and has purchased more than $367 billion in fossil fuels from Russia since the beginning of its large-scale invasion of Ukraine. according to data Collected by the Energy and Clean Air Research Center.

Analysts will be watching to see whether Putin and Xi reach any agreements to further deepen energy cooperation. The most high-profile project being discussed is Power of Siberia 2, a 1,600-mile (2,600 km) natural gas pipeline that would add 50 billion cubic meters of gas capacity to Russia’s flow to China. The pipeline will pass through Mongolia and is seen by the Kremlin as key to making up for lost European export markets.

Additional land-based energy supplies from Russia would reduce China’s dependence on the Strait of Hormuz, which has been crippled by the US war with Iran. However, it could make China overly dependent on Russia at a time when China wants to increase its energy self-sufficiency.

Putin has been a background figure in Xi’s delicate relationship with the United States. Last week, as Xi gave Trump a rare tour of his private residence in Beijing, the Chinese leader said Putin was one of several other foreign leaders invited to the Zhongnanhai compound, sometimes referred to as China’s Kremlin. “Good,” Trump replied.

China has also been affected by Western sanctions as a result of the war in Ukraine. This month the Chinese embassy in the UK made “strong statements” that London had added two Chinese entities to Russia’s sanctions list.

Western countries have criticized Beijing’s support for Russia through economic ties and exports of dual-use equipment with military applications.

Ukraine was not mentioned in detail in the U.S. or Chinese summaries of last week’s main bilateral meeting between Trump and Xi. But F.T. It was later reported Xi told Trump that Putin might regret the war, according to sources familiar with the U.S. assessment of the summit. The Chinese foreign ministry rejected these reports.

If proven accurate, Xi’s comments likely reflect China’s growing awareness of Russia’s challenges both on the battlefield and at home. While the war in Ukraine has largely reached a stalemate, Ukraine’s long-range drone and missile attacks have caused serious damage to Russian energy infrastructure and military facilities.

On Tuesday, a Russian lawmaker from Siberia called for a “quick conclusion” to the war, warning that Russia’s economy “cannot withstand a long continuation of the special military operation”; This is a rare public acknowledgment of the strain the conflict has placed on the country.

Additional research by Yu-chen Li