Russian leader Putin visits ‘dear friend’ Chinese President Xi in show of no-limits partnership

BEIJING - Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Beijing on Tuesday to meet his “dear friend” Xi Jinping and bolster their relationship at a summit overshadowed by

the Israel-Hamas war.

China this week welcomed representatives of 130 countries to a forum on President Xi’s vast trade and infrastructure Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

At the top of the guest list is Mr Putin, who is on his first trip to a major global power since

Moscow’s Ukraine invasion

threw his regime into international isolation.

He is due to hold talks with Mr Xi on the sidelines of the forum on Wednesday, the Kremlin said, adding: “During the talks, special attention will be paid to international and regional issues.”

Western countries, led by the United States, have rallied to Israel’s side since Oct 7, when

Hamas launched a deadly attack on Israel.

The US has asked China to use its influence to help de-escalate the war, which has already seen over

a million people in the blockaded Gaza Strip flee

the relentless bombardment that Israel launched in retaliation for the Hamas attack.

China brokered an entente between key Hamas backer Iran and its regional foe Saudi Arabia earlier in 2023.

Beijing will send its Middle East envoy Zhai Jun to the volatile region this week. No details have been given about where or when exactly Mr Zhai would travel.

China’s state broadcaster CCTV has said he will push for a ceasefire and peace talks.

Russia, which has traditionally maintained good relations with both Israeli and Palestinian authorities, has called for an “immediate ceasefire” in the conflict.

In Beijing, Mr Putin is on a mission to strengthen the already strong bond with his communist neighbour, though experts say Moscow is increasingly the junior partner in the relationship.

China is Russia’s largest trading partner, with exchange between the nations reaching a record US$190 billion (S$260 billion) in 2022, Beijing Customs data shows.

Beijing has drawn criticism from Western countries for its stance on the Ukraine war, on which China insists it is neutral even as it refuses to criticise Moscow’s invasion.

During Mr Xi’s state visit to Moscow in March, Mr Putin hailed the “truly unlimited possibilities” their countries’ partnership offered.

But while the BRI forum offers a fresh opportunity for Mr Putin and Mr Xi to showcase their alliance, experts do not expect any new major deals to be announced.

“Russia is aware that China doesn’t want to sign any high publicity deals,” Mr Alexander Gabuev, director of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Centre, told AFP. “China holds all of the cards.”

Friends reunited

Mr Xi kicked off the summit on Tuesday with talks with Chilean and Kazakhstan presidents Gabriel Boric and Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Chinese state media reported.

He then met Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, describing the conservative leader as a “friend” and thanking him for his support for the BRI, state news agency Xinhua said.

Mr Xi also met the prime ministers of Papua New Guinea and Ethiopia.

Mr Putin had a meeting of his own with Mr Orban, during which he told the Hungarian Prime Minister he was satisfied to still maintain relations with some European countries, “despite... current geopolitical conditions”.

Mr Orban’s meeting with the Russian leader is likely to prompt a backlash from his European Union and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies as well as Ukraine, which have sought to isolate Mr Putin since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.

Mr Putin also met Vietnam’s President Vo Van Thong, the Kremlin said.

China and Russia’s top diplomats were singing from the same song sheet when they met in Beijing on Monday.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov thanked China for inviting Mr Putin as the summit’s “chief guest”, according to a readout from Moscow. It later said Mr Lavrov would head to North Korea after Beijing.

Mr Putin and Mr Xi will discuss the countries’ ties “in their entirety” when they meet this week, Mr Lavrov told his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.

The two nations share a symbiotic alliance. China appreciates Russia’s role as a bulwark against the West, while Moscow is increasingly reliant on Beijing’s largesse in trade and geopolitical backing.

“Since Moscow embarked on its all-out invasion of Ukraine, it has been put in a position where it is unprecedentedly dependent on China,” Assistant Professor Bjorn Alexander Duben of China’s Jilin University told AFP.

At the heart of the deepening partnership is the relationship between Mr Xi and Mr Putin, who have described each other as “dear friends”.

“President Xi Jinping calls me his friend, and I call him my friend, too,” Mr Putin told Chinese state broadcaster CGTN ahead of his visit, according to a Kremlin readout.

Second known trip since March

The visit to Beijing is Mr Putin’s second known trip abroad since the Hague-based

International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for him in March

.

It is also the Kremlin chief’s first official trip outside the former Soviet Union in 2023,

after visiting Kyrgyzstan

, a former Soviet republic, earlier in October.

The ICC, which accused Mr Putin of illegally deporting children from Ukraine, obliges the court’s 123 member states to arrest the Russian leader and transfer him to The Hague for trial if he sets foot on their territory.

Neither Kyrgyzstan nor China is a member of the ICC, established to prosecute war crimes.

Mr Xi last saw his “dear friend” in Moscow just days after the ICC warrant was issued. At the time, Mr Xi invited Mr Putin to attend the third Belt and Road forum in Beijing.

Mr Putin last visited China for the Beijing Winter Olympics in February 2022, when Russia and China declared a “no-limits” partnership days before the Russian president sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine.

It would be Mr Putin’s third attendance of the Belt and Road Forum, which runs until Wednesday. He attended the two previous forums in 2017 and 2019.

Belt and Road

Mr Xi launched the BRI a decade ago in hopes that it would build global infrastructure and energy networks connecting Asia with Africa and Europe through overland and maritime routes.

Mr Putin has praised the initiative

, saying it is a platform for international cooperation, where “no one imposes anything on others”.

Since the start of the Ukrainian conflict, Russia has cemented its energy ties with China in a sign of their economic cooperation.

Russia exports around 2 million barrels of oil a day to China, more than a third of its total crude oil exports. Moscow aims to build a second natural gas pipeline to China.

While the heads of Russia’s oil and gas giants Rosneft and Gazprom will be part of Mr Putin’s travelling delegation, no new deals in energy can be expected.

The trip is not a “full-fledged bilateral” visit, but one made on the sidelines of an international conference, according to the Kremlin. AFP, REUTERS, BLOOMBERG