Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Russia on Monday for a summit with Vladimir Putin, where the two leaders will discuss a Chinese plan to resolve the conflict in Ukraine and stand united against the West.
During their face-to-face meeting, the Russian president assured his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Monday that Moscow and Beijing have “many common tasks and many common goals”, during an informal meeting in the Kremlin to seal their alliance against Westerners. . “We have a lot of common tasks and goals,” Vladimir Putin said, welcoming that Beijing pays “great attention to the development of relations between Russia and China”.
The Chinese leader also hailed “the close relations” between Moscow and Beijing during a much-anticipated meeting in Moscow with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.
“We are partners in a comprehensive strategic cooperation. It is this status that determines that there must be close relations between our countries,” he said at the start of this informal interview, according to a translation of his remarks live on Russian television.
For Beijing and Moscow, it is above all a question of displaying with this summit the strength of their relationship, at a time when the two countries are going through great tensions with Western countries, even if Russia seems more dependent on China than the reverse.
For Vladimir Putin, increasingly isolated in the West, Xi Jinping’s visit is all the more important as last week the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant against him for “war crimes ” in Ukraine.
In an article published in a Russian newspaper, Xi Jinping presented his visit as a “journey of friendship, cooperation and peace”, in the face of Westerners who view the Beijing-Moscow relationship with suspicion.
“I look forward to working with President Putin to adopt a new vision together” of bilateral ties, wrote Xi Jinping in particular. In an article published in a Chinese daily, Vladimir Putin praised “China’s willingness to play a constructive role” in Ukraine and believes that “Russian-Chinese relations have reached the highest point in their history”.
As the two heads of state meet, the international community hopes that China will calm Vladimir Putin’s ardor. The UK said on Monday it “hopes” Chinese President Xi Jinping will urge Vladimir Putin to end the war and “atrocities” in Ukraine when he visits Moscow.
“We hope President Xi will take this opportunity to urge President Putin to stop bombing cities, hospitals and schools in Ukraine and put an end to the atrocities we witness daily,” the doorman said. -word of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
Kiev also hopes that Chinese President Xi Jinping will use his “influence” on Vladimir Putin during his visit to Moscow to “stop” the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the spokesman for Ukrainian diplomacy said on Monday.
“Ukraine is closely following the Chinese President’s visit to Russia. We expect Beijing to use its influence on Moscow to end the war of aggression against Ukraine,” spokesman Oleg Nikolenko said shortly after Xi Jinping arrived in Moscow. .
China has not publicly condemned the Russian offensive and criticized the United States for its arms deliveries to Ukraine as well as NATO for failing to take into account Russian security concerns.
Beijing, however, released a 12-point document in late February that calls for peace talks and respect for the territorial integrity of all states – including, therefore, Ukraine. On Monday, the Kremlin accused the United States of stoking the conflict in Ukraine and “flooding” that country with weapons.
For its part, Ukraine reiterated its calls for Russia to withdraw its troops, saying that the success of the Chinese plan depended on “surrender” or the “withdrawal of Russian occupation forces from Ukrainian territory”.
Beijing’s position on Ukraine is considered too lukewarm by several Western countries, according to which China tacitly supports Russia. The United States has already indicated that it will not support a new Chinese call for a ceasefire during Xi Jinping’s visit to Moscow, considering that this would amount to consolidating Russian control over the territories conquered in Ukraine. .
According to the American daily The Wall Street Journal, Xi Jinping could also meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky once he returns to China.
In any case, Xi Jinping’s visit allows Russia to show that it is not isolated, an impression reinforced by the international arrest warrant issued Friday by the ICC against Vladimir Putin for the “illegal deportation” of Ukrainian children. .
Asked about the subject, a spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Wang Wenbin, on Monday called on the court based in The Hague (Netherlands) to respect the immunity of heads of state. As a sign of defiance, Vladimir Putin visited Mariupol, a Ukrainian city devastated by Russian bombing, this weekend, his first visit to a conquered area since the start of the offensive in February 2022.
The visit also has an important economic aspect, as Russia has massively reoriented its economy towards China in the face of Western sanctions. According to the Kremlin, Putin and Xi will sign several documents, including on Russian-Chinese economic cooperation by 2030. Last year, just three weeks before Russian troops entered Ukraine, Beijing and Moscow declared a “limitless” partnership.