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Belt and Road Summit: Putin in China to meet ‘dear friend’ Xi Jinping

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Beijing on Tuesday for a major assembly together with his Chinese language counterpart, Xi Jinping, garnering international consideration. The go to aimed to underscore the profound mutual belief and unrestricted partnership between China and its colossal neighbor.
Putin and his delegation landed at Beijing Capital Worldwide Airport on Tuesday morning, marking the Kremlin chief’s inaugural official journey exterior the previous Soviet Union this 12 months, as captured in Reuters’ video footage.
The Russian chief is ready to be probably the most outstanding attendees at an occasion commemorating the tenth anniversary of Xi’s introduction of the Belt and Highway Initiative (BRI) coverage. This initiative has burdened nations like Zambia and Sri Lanka with vital debt. These international locations entered contracts with Chinese language companies to assemble infrastructure initiatives, together with roads and airports, that have been financially past their means.
With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, each Putin and Xi have come to share a symbiotic alliance. Whereas China appreciates Russia’s function as a bulwark in opposition to the West and Moscow more and more depends on Beijing’s largesse in commerce and geopolitical backing.
“Since Moscow launched into its all-out invasion of Ukraine, it has been put able the place it’s unprecedentedly depending on China,” Bjorn Alexander Duben of China’s Jilin College instructed AFP.
“For Russia, China is its lifeline, financial lifeline in its brutal repression in opposition to Ukraine,” Alexander Gabuev, director of Carnegie Russia Eurasia Middle, instructed AP.
“It’s the most important marketplace for Russian commodities, it’s a rustic that gives its foreign money and cost system to settle Russia’s commerce with the surface world — with China itself, but in addition with many different international locations, and can also be the most important supply of subtle technological imports, together with dual-use items that go into the Russian army machine.”
Putin’s worldwide travels have been restricted for the reason that Worldwide Prison Court docket (ICC), based mostly in The Hague, issued an arrest warrant for him in March. The ICC accused him of illegally deporting kids from Ukraine, main Putin to go to Kyrgyzstan, a former Soviet republic, earlier this month. It is value noting that neither Kyrgyzstan nor China are ICC member states, which suggests they aren’t sure by the warrant.
Xi Jinping, referring to Putin as his “expensive good friend,” final met with the Russian president in Moscow shortly after the ICC warrant was issued. Throughout this assembly, Xi prolonged an invite to Putin to attend the third Belt and Highway discussion board in Beijing, a global cooperation initiative championed by the Chinese language chief. The 2 leaders have been scheduled to satisfy on Wednesday.
Regardless of ongoing criticism from the West concerning their partnership, China has steadfastly defended its collaboration with Moscow, emphasizing that their ties adhere to worldwide norms. Beijing argues that it has the precise to have interaction with any nation it chooses, no matter exterior pressures.
Putin’s earlier go to to China was in February 2022 for the Beijing Winter Olympics, the place each nations declared an unrestricted partnership simply days earlier than Russia deployed tens of hundreds of troops into Ukraine. This go to to Beijing marked Putin’s third attendance on the Belt and Highway Discussion board, a major occasion that focuses on Xi Jinping’s Belt and Highway initiative. This initiative, launched a decade in the past, goals to create international infrastructure and vitality networks connecting Asia with Africa and Europe by way of overland and maritime routes.
Putin has spoken favorably concerning the Belt and Highway Initiative, describing it as a platform for worldwide cooperation. He emphasised the non-coercive nature of China’s strategy, stating that inside this framework, no nation imposes its will on others. In accordance with Putin, this facet distinguishes President Xi Jinping’s initiative from different initiatives that carry a colonialist taste.
Economically, Russia has strengthened its vitality ties with China amid the continued battle in Ukraine. Moscow exports roughly 2.0 million barrels of oil day by day to China, accounting for greater than a 3rd of its complete crude oil exports. Moreover, Russia goals to assemble a second pure fuel pipeline to China, additional solidifying their financial cooperation.
Whereas key figures from Russia’s oil and fuel corporations, Rosneft and Gazprom, accompanied Putin, no new vitality offers have been anticipated throughout the go to. The Kremlin clarified that this journey was not a complete bilateral go to however relatively a participation in a global convention on the sidelines.
(With inputs from businesses)

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