Putin hails deepening Russia-China ties ahead of talks with Xi Jinping

Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - BEIJING — Russian President Vladimir Putin has hailed the deepening ties between Moscow and Beijing as a “stabilizing” force on the world stage ahead of talks with Xi Jinping, less than a week after the Chinese leader received US President Donald Trump during his high-profile visit to the country.

Putin is traveling to Beijing on Tuesday in his first foreign visit of the year with the war in Iran offering an opportunity to deepen energy ties with China.

Russia hopes the turmoil in energy markets from the Middle East conflict will make China more flexible in negotiations on a contract for gas prices for the planned Power of Siberia 2 pipeline project, according to people close to the government.

Chinese officials expressed an interest in accelerating the talks, though there has been no firm progress so far, one Russian official said.

By hosting foreign leaders, China is also seeking to strengthen its image as a pillar of global stability, in contrast to US struggles to end the war in Ukraine and contain a separate conflict with Iran that has disrupted global energy flows.

China and ‌Russia have cast Putin's two-day trip — his 25th visit to China — as further evidence of their "all-weather" partnership, even as the West urges Beijing to pressure Moscow into ending its war in Ukraine.

While China presents itself as a peace mediator in the conflict and a neutral party, Putin said China and Russia support each other's "core interests" as he pursues additional energy deals with the world's second-largest economy in the face of Western sanctions.

In an address ahead of a two-day visit, Putin said Moscow and Beijing do not wish to align against any other country but work together for “peace and universal prosperity.”

“It is in this spirit that Moscow and Beijing coordinate efforts to defend international law and the principles of the UN Charter in their entirety,” said Putin, whose invasion of Ukraine has been widely condemned as a violation of international law.

Russia and China, Putin added, also support cooperation “within the framework of the UN, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, BRICS, and other multilateral platforms, making a significant contribution to addressing pressing global and regional issues.”

Moscow-Beijing relations have developed to an “unprecedented level”, Putin said, with the sides now supporting each other on such fundamental matters as the “protection of sovereignty and national unity”.

“Russia and China look confidently towards the future, actively developing cooperation in politics, economics, defence, expanding cultural exchanges, and fostering interpersonal interaction, in essence, jointly doing everything to deepen bilateral cooperation and advance global development for the wellbeing of both nations,” Putin said in the speech aired by state media.

The summit, the second face-to-face meeting between the leaders in less than a year, comes as Russia and China are widely seen as being increasingly aligned in challenging the US' standing as the dominant power in world affairs.

Putin’s visit, which is timed to mark the 25th anniversary of the sides’ Treaty of Good-Neighbourliness and Friendly Cooperation, also comes just days after Xi and Trump wrapped up a two-day summit in Beijing.

Trump and Xi’s summit, a follow-up to talks held in South Korea in October, featured warm rhetoric and pageantry but produced few concrete agreements on the many issues of contention between the sides.

"The Xi-Putin summit will telegraph to the world that the China-Russia strategic partnership remains the cornerstone of both countries' foreign policies and that any attempt by the U.S. to drive a wedge between them is destined to fail," said Ian Storey, principal fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore.

"It's unrealistic to expect Xi to put pressure on Putin to end the war in Ukraine. Xi doesn't wield that kind of influence over Putin and in any case the Chinese understand how a defeat for Russia in Ukraine would weaken Putin's political standing," said Storey.