Chinese leader Xi Jinping is meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday in a show of diplomatic support as Moscow faces growing international isolation over its faltering invasion of Ukraine.
At their meeting, Russian state media reported that Putin condemned US “provocations” in the Taiwan Strait and said he highly valued China’s “balanced position” on the Ukraine crisis.
The two authoritarian leaders have emerged as close partners in recent years, driven by growing conflict with the West and a strong personal bond.
China has offered tacit support to Russia over Ukraine, while Moscow has backed Beijing and criticized Washington for US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei in August. Beijing responded with unprecedented military exercises around the self-ruled democratic island, which it claims as its own territory.
In a statement released by the Kremlin, Putin said: “The foreign policy of Moscow and Beijing plays a key role in ensuring global and regional stability. We are jointly in favor of the formation of a just, democratic and multipolar world order based on international rules and the central role of the UN.”
The two are holding talks in Uzbekistan at a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a security-focused regional grouping that also includes India, Pakistan and four Central Asian states.
In a symbolic show of strength and unity, the Russian and Chinese navies conducted joint patrols and exercises in the Pacific Ocean just hours before their leaders’ meeting, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.
The meeting, their first face-to-face since the invasion, comes at a potentially important time for Putin, whose troops are retreating en masse in northeastern Ukraine, losing more ground in a week than they have captured in five months.
Putin is one of the few world leaders Xi has met face-to-face since early 2020. The Russian leader traveled to Beijing for the Winter Olympics in February this year and was seen as the most prominent world leader to attended the event. Some Western countries have declared a diplomatic boycott, citing China’s human rights record.
It was at that meeting that the two leaders framed “cooperation without borders” and released a 5,000-word document expressing their shared opposition to “further enlargement of NATO”.
China has refused to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine while boosting economic aid to its neighbor, boosting bilateral trade to record levels, favoring Russian businesses amid Western sanctions.
Meanwhile, for Xi, the meeting comes as part of his first trip outside China’s borders in more than two years, and just weeks before he seeks to secure a rule-breaking third term at a major political meeting in Beijing – a move that will cement his status as China’s most powerful leader in decades.
China has been turning more and more inward since the beginning of the pandemic. Xi’s trip to Central Asia is a return to the world stage and offers him a chance to show that despite rising tensions with the West, China still has friends and partners and is ready to reassert its global influence.
In his first stop, Xi visited Kazakhstan, where in 2013 he unveiled the flagship of the Belt and Road Initiative, a massive infrastructure project stretching from East Asia to Europe.
In a meeting with Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on Wednesday, Xi said China would like to work with Kazakhstan to “remain a pioneer in Belt and Road cooperation.”
Xi also told Tokayev that “China will always support Kazakhstan in maintaining national independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Chinese state media reported.
The Chinese leader traveled to Uzbekistan on Wednesday afternoon and met with Uzbekistani President Savkat Mirziyoyev. He also met with the presidents of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan on Thursday.
