Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in China for meetings with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Tuesday night less than a week after US President Donald Trump wrapped up his own trip to Beijing.
Putin's plane landed in the Chinese capital, where he was greeted by Foreign Minister Wang Yi and an honour guard, as well as youths in light blue shirts waving Chinese and Russian flags and chanting, “Welcome, welcome, warmly welcome!”
His two-day visit is likely to be closely watched as Beijing seeks to maintain stable relations with the United States while also preserving its historically strong ties with Russia.
The Kremlin previously noted that Putin and Xi plan to discuss economic cooperation between their countries, but also “key international and regional issues.” The visit coincides with the 25th anniversary of the Sino-Russian Treaty of Friendship signed more than two decades ago in 2001.
China is a key trading partner for Russia, especially after Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 isolated the Kremlin from the international arena and cut a considerable amount of its ties with Western Hemisphere countries.
