Ostensibly, Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to China this week to meet with his counterpart, Xi Jinping, is taking place to mark the 25th anniversary of the 2001 Sino‑Russian Treaty of Good‑Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation.
But the timing of the trip — just days after US President Donald Trump's state visit to Beijing — is noteworthy, and highlights China's influential position in a geopolitical landscape that is increasingly fractured and marked by great power rivalries.
What is on the agenda at the Putin-Xi summit?
Topics on the table are expected to include bilateral economic and trade issues, as well as discussions on international and regional affairs.Amid Moscow's isolation from the West over its invasion of Ukraine, China has become Russia's largest trading partner by far, supplying more than a third of its imports and buying more than a quarter of Russian exports.
But the partnership reportedly also has military dimensions. A Reuters investigation in July 2025 said Chinese companies allegedly used shell firms to ship drone engines to Russian arms manufacturers as industrial cooling equipment — allegations Beijing denies.
