Chinese President Xi Jinping is set to host his “old friend” Vladimir Putin less than a week after Donald Trump’s high-profile visit, as Beijing moves to portray itself as a steady and reliable global power amid mounting trade tensions, ongoing wars and a deepening energy crisis.
China and Russia have framed Putin’s two-day visit this week, his 25th trip to China, as further proof of their “all-weather” strategic partnership, even as Western nations continue pressing Beijing to use its influence to push Moscow toward ending the war in Ukraine.
While China continues to present itself as a neutral party and potential peace broker in the conflict, Putin has said Moscow and Beijing remain aligned on each other’s “core interests” as Russia seeks to expand energy cooperation with the world’s second-largest economy in the face of sweeping Western sanctions.
“The Xi-Putin summit will telegraph to the world that the China-Russia strategic partnership remains the cornerstone of both countries’ foreign policies and that any attempt by the U.S. to drive a wedge between them is destined to fail,” said Ian Storey, principal fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore.
The visit follows Trump’s trip last week, which generated positive optics but few major commercial agreements. Xi described Sino-U.S. ties as a relationship of “strategic stability,” challenging the “strategic competition” framework associated with former U.S. President Joe Biden.
