Putin visits ‘dear friend’ Xi in Beijing in rare trip

Mr Putin’s international travel has been stunted since the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for him in March, accusing him of illegally deporting children from Ukraine. Mr Putin visited Kyrgyzstan, a former Soviet republic, earlier this month.

Mr Putin is hoping his visit will affirm Beijing’s tacit support for his invasion of Ukraine. He will meet Mr Xi on Wednesday as they seek to demonstrate the strength of their “no limits” partnership. Ahead of his trip, Mr Putin praised Mr Xi’s BRI, which consists of infrastructure projects designed to expand China’s influence abroad and has been criticised for saddling poorer countries with debt.

“We see that some perceive it as an attempt by the People’s Republic of China to crush someone under itself, but we don’t see this that way: we just see a desire for co-operation,” Mr Putin said of the BRI, in an interview with Chinese state media.

“In my opinion, the main advantage of the co-operation concept proposed by China is that within the framework of co-operation, no one imposes anything on others.”

Mr Putin, who is also expected to give a major speech at the BRI gathering, last visited China for the Beijing Winter Olympics in February 2022. Russia and China then declared a “no limits” partnership, days before Mr Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine.

Russia has since cemented its energy ties with China in a sign of their strengthening economic co-operation.

The leaders, who have described themselves as “dear friends”, last met in March when Mr Xi travelled to Moscow. Wednesday’s talks will take place as Israel prepares a major ground offensive in Gaza. US President Joe Biden is set to visit Israel, as concerns grow the conflict and the resulting humanitarian crisis will escalate into a broader war in the region.

Analysts said Mr Xi and Mr Putin were expected to capitalise on unrest in the Middle East by criticising Israel’s retaliation to the Hamas attacks, and use the situation to highlight Washington’s failure to secure peace in the region. Both Beijing and Moscow have called for a ceasefire in the conflict.

The Russia-China “no limits” partnership has not so far hurt efforts by the Albanese government, a major US ally, to stabilise trade with Beijing. Trade Minister Don Farrell said on Tuesday that China remained Australia’s largest trading partner.

“This government has been working hard to stabilise the trading relationship with China,” he said. “But, there remain several unresolved trade issues that we need to work through, including for Australian wine, lobsters and some red meat exports.”

Australia is not a signatory to the BRI, a series of huge infrastructure projects designed to re-create China’s “Silk Road” trading route by connecting Central Asia, South-East Asia, Africa and Europe. Former Victorian premier Daniel Andrews signed up to the deal in 2020, but Victoria’s membership was vetoed by the federal government. Victoria has not sent a representative to Beijing this week.

With Reuters