At a summit in Beijing on Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed gratitude to Chinese leader Xi Jinping for his attempts to address the conflict in Ukraine. The two leaders confirmed their unrestricted partnership, which has strengthened as both nations encounter increased tensions with Western countries.
Putin’s visit to a close ally coincided with Russian forces advancing in Kharkiv, marking the most significant border violation since the invasion started in February 2022.
The visit, mainly symbolic, emphasized the increasing collaboration between two nations that both encounter difficulties in their ties with the U.S. and Europe.
According to Hoo Tiang Boon, a professor at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore who researches Chinese foreign policy, both parties aim to demonstrate their commitment to each other despite global events and pressure from the U.S.
Both leaders talked about peace in Ukraine
In their public statements on Thursday afternoon, the two leaders stated that they wanted the war in Ukraine to end, but they did not provide any new details. China has a great deal of power because it was a major ally of Russia before and after its invasion. The nation says it is neutral in the conflict, but it has supported Moscow’s claims that the West forced Russia to attack Ukraine and has continued to provide Moscow with essential supplies for its armaments manufacturing.
China put forth a broadly worded peace plan in 2023, but because it did not demand that Russia withdraw from its occupied portions of Ukraine, it was rejected by both the West and Ukraine.
“China hopes that peace will return to Europe soon.”
“We appreciate the initiative of our Chinese colleagues and friends to regulate the situation,” Putin said, adding that he will provide the Chinese leader with detailed information about “the situation in Ukraine.”
With Russia’s recent onslaught in Ukraine, the two-year-old conflict has entered a crucial phase. After months of waiting, Kyiv’s dwindling military is still in need of fresh supplies of artillery shells and anti-aircraft missiles from the US.
Putin stated that the Kremlin was willing to negotiate over the Ukrainian issue in an interview with Chinese medi on the day of the visit, “but such negotiations must take into account the interests of all countries involved in the conflict, including ours.”
The Chinese proposal that Ukraine rejected the previous year, according to Putin, might “lay the groundwork for a political and diplomatic process that would take into account Russia’s security concerns and contribute to achieving a long-term and sustainable peace.”
According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, any negotiations must entail the return of Ukraine’s territory, the evacuation of Russian forces, the release of all detainees, the establishment of a court for the aggressors, and security assurances for Ukraine.
In a recent interview with CBS News, the head of Ukraine issued a frightening warning: should the United States and NATO fail to assist his armed forces in halting Putin’s advance, Russia may take the fight directly “to Europe, and to the United States” as the largest member of NATO.
A partnership against the West?
Putin said he chose China for his first trip abroad after being inaugurated to a fifth term in office this month because of the “unprecedented level of strategic partnership between our countries.” Beijing has declared it a “no-limits” friendship.
Both Xi and Putin see Western efforts to spread democracy as an attempt to de-legitimize them, and they believe that authoritarian regimes are better for confronting the challenges of the modern world
While China hasn’t provided Russia with arms to use in Ukraine, it has backed Moscow diplomatically, blaming the West for threatening Russia’s security. China also has strongly condemned Western sanctions against Moscow.
Russia, in turn, has consistently voiced support for Beijing on issues related to Taiwan. After Kyiv’s Western allies halted oil and gas.
After Kyiv’s Western allies halted oil and gas imports from Russia, China has become Moscow’s top energy customer. China, in turn, has become a top supplier of machinery and electronics to Russia after sanctions curtailed high-tech supplies.
China and Russia’s growing “no-limits” relationship
Before their remarks, the two leaders signed a joint statement on deepening the comprehensive strategic partnership between their nations on their 75th anniversary of diplomatic ties. Xi said China and Russia would continue to uphold a position of non-alliance and non-confrontation.
The two autocratic countries — which two years ago suggested they were working together to offer a new “democratic world order” — also said in their joint statement Thursday that they would continue to consider the negative impact of the U.S. and NATO’s strategy in the Asia-Pacific.
China has been increasingly assertive in its claims to a number of contested territories in the region recently, with tension between Beijing and the U.S.
focused sharply on the future of the democratically governed island of Taiwan, just of China’s east coast. Xi has vowed to assert Chinese control over the island, which the U.S. is bound by law to help defend, and he has never ruled out using force.
Thursday’s meeting was yet another affirmation of the friendly “no limits” relationship the two leaders formalized in 2022, just before Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Since then, Russia has become increasingly economically dependent on China as Western sanctions cut Moscow’s access to much of the international trading system. China’s increased trade with Russia, totaling $240 billion last year, has helped the country mitigate some of the worst blowback from sanctions.
Moscow has diverted the bulk of its energy exports to China and relies on Chinese companies for imports of high-tech components for its military industries — to circumvent Western sanctions.
“I and President Putin agree, we should actively look for convergence points of the interests of both countries, to develop each’s advantages, and deepen integration of interests, realizing each others’ achievements,” Xi said.
Russia-China military ties have also strengthened over the last few years. They’ve held a series of joint war games, including naval drills and patrols by long-range bombers over the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea.
China remains a major market for Russian military hardware, while Beijing is also massively expanding its domestic defense industries, including building aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines. Putin has previously said Russia has been sharing highly sensitive military technologies with China that helped significantly bolster its defense capability.
In October 2019, he mentioned that Russia was helping China to develop an early warning system to spot ballistic missile launches – a system involving ground-based radar and satellites that only Russia and the U.S. possessed.
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