Nearly a week after securing a third term as China’s president, Xi Jinping will be traveling to Moscow next week to hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Chinese leader will be meeting his Russian counterpart as Moscow’s relations with the West deteriorate further after the Netherlands-based International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant against President Putin over alleged war crimes and a Russian fighter jet downing a U.S. drone over the Black Sea.
Highlighting the significance of the meeting, the Associated Press noted that the “visit to Russia will be Xi’s first foreign trip since being elected to an unprecedented third term as China’s president.”
The visit will cement the emerging the China-Russia axis since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine more than a year ago. “The meeting in Moscow is likely to see the two sides recommit to their partnership, which both see as critical to countering what they consider undue and undeserved influence exerted by the U.S. and its Western allies,” the news agency added.
According to Russian sources, Xi’s visit will take the bilateral ties into a “new era,” with both sides signing several agreements. “The Kremlin said they would discuss a “comprehensive partnership and strategic co-operation,” the BBC reported.
The French news agency AFP reported the Chinese leader’s upcoming visit:
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader President Xi Jinping will sign accords ushering in a “new era” of ties in Moscow next week, the Kremlin said Friday.Xi will be in Russia from Monday to Wednesday, Beijing and Moscow announced, for talks with his strategic ally just over a year into Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine.Kremlin advisor Yuri Ushakov said Putin and Xi would sign a key declaration “on strengthening (the two countries’) comprehensive partnership and strategic relations entering a new era.”China’s foreign ministry called Xi’s trip “a visit for peace” that aimed to “practice true multilateralism… improve global governance and make contributions to the development and progress of the world”.The two leaders would exchange views on relations between their countries, and major international and regional issues, ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters.
Weeks ahead of the February 23, 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the Chinese leader offered a “no-limits” partnership to Putin. China also refused to recognize the U.S. and Western sanctions on Moscow, becoming Russia’s biggest oil importer and largest trading partner.
In 2022, China’s trade with Russia hit a record $190 billion. In the first two months of 2023, bilateral trade between the two grew at a double-digit pace. “China’s exports to Russia jumped 19.8% in the first two months, to a total of $15 billion, while it recorded shrinking demand from markets elsewhere. Imports from Russia soared by 31.3% to $18.65 billion,” Reuters reported earlier this month.
In recent years, China and Russia have deepened their defense cooperation and forged a de-facto military alliance aimed against the U.S. and its Western allies.
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