IRIA News

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Beijing on May 16, 2024, for a two-day-long state visit. Putin would engage in discussions with Chinese President Xi Jinping as the Kremlin aims to strengthen the strategic partnership between the two foremost geopolitical adversaries of the United States.

This is Putin’s first visit since taking office as the president of Russia for six more years. In selecting China for his inaugural foreign trip following his swearing-in, which extends his tenure in power until at least 2030, Putin is signaling to the global community his priorities and the significance of his bond with Xi.

Xi Jinping said that he and his Russian counterpart agreed that a political settlement of the Ukraine crisis is the “right way forward,” and that Beijing is prepared “to play a constructive role” in the political and diplomatic settlement of the conflict.

In an interview with China’s state-owned Xinhua news agency, Putin praised China’s Xi Jinping for helping to build a “strategic partnership” with Russia based on national interests and deep mutual trust.

“It was the unprecedentedly high level of the strategic partnership between our countries that determined my choice of China as the first state that I would visit after officially taking office as president of the Russian Federation,” Putin said.

“We will try to establish closer cooperation in the field of industry and high technology, space and peaceful nuclear energy, artificial intelligence, renewable energy sources, and other innovative sectors,” Putin said.

Chinese President Xi Jinping said during the meeting, “This year marks the 75th anniversary of the China-Russia diplomatic relations. It is an important milestone year in the history of China-Russia relations. Over the past 75 years, China and Russia together have found a new path for major countries and neighboring countries to treat each other with respect and pursue amity and mutually beneficial cooperation.”

Xi highlighted that China is pacing Chinese modernization “on all fronts and moving faster to foster new quality productive forces through high-quality development, which will add new drivers to global economic growth”.

He added that “Both China and Russia are permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and major emerging markets. It is the shared strategic choice of both countries to deepen strategic coordination, expand mutually beneficial cooperation, and follow the general historical trend of multipolarity in the world and economic globalization.”

Putin and Xi will participate in a grand evening event commemorating 75 years since the Soviet Union formally acknowledged the establishment of the People’s Republic of China. Putin will also visit Harbin in northeastern China, a city with historic ties to Russia.

Russian President’s visit to China coincides with Moscow’s recent initiation of a fresh offensive in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region. Concurrently, Russia asserts progress along the 1,000-kilometer front line, where delays in delivering weapons and ammunition from the United States have hindered Kyiv’s forces.

Over the past 75 years, China and Russia together have found a new path for major countries and neighboring countries to treat each other with respect and pursue friendship and mutually beneficial cooperation.

The two sides should take the 75th anniversary of the diplomatic ties… pic.twitter.com/I8Zvac10QL

— Hua Chunying 华春莹 (@SpokespersonCHN) May 16, 2024

Days before Putin ordered the start of the military operation in Ukraine in February 2022, both Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping announced a ‘no limit’ partnership between their countries. During Xi’s visit to Moscow in March 2023, he characterized a “new era” in the bilateral relationship, and in October of the same year, during Putin’s last visit to Beijing, Xi emphasized the “deep friendship” shared between the two leaders, who had convened 42 times over the preceding decade.

Speaking on the matter, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov claimed that Moscow and Beijing played a “major balancing role in global affairs,” and that Putin’s visit would “strengthen our joint work.” Both countries are veto-holding members of the United Nations Security Council, alongside the U.S., the United Kingdom, and France.

Moscow has strengthened its bonds with Beijing, directing a significant portion of its energy exports towards China and sourcing high-tech components for its military sector from Chinese firms in response to Western sanctions.

Additionally, the two nations have expanded their military collaboration, conducting joint military exercises in the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea, and facilitating training programs for ground forces on each other’s soil.

The deepening strategic alliance between Moscow and Beijing has long been a cause of concern for Washington. The United States views China as its chief competitor in global affairs, while also considering Russia its primary nation-state adversary.

U.S. President Joe Biden asserts that the course of this century will be determined by a fundamental rivalry between democratic and autocratic governance systems, underscoring the ideological stakes at play in contemporary geopolitics. These dynamic underscores the complex and evolving landscape of international relations, where alliances and rivalries shape the trajectory of global power dynamics.