The meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin during the latter’s visit to Beijing on May 19-20 was closely watched in New Delhi for its outcomes.
While Russia is a close strategic ally of India, China has been a difficult neighbor, with whom it has a long-standing border dispute. The Sino-Russian relationship, going forward from the Beijing summit, would have implications for India.
The Xi-Putin summit saw the two sides agree to extend the China-Russia Treaty of Good-Neighbourliness, Friendship and Cooperation, which was originally signed in 2001 and extended in 2021. According to a Russian statement, the two sides agreed “to strengthen coordination and interaction in bilateral and multilateral formats, jointly respond to various challenges and threats, and support global and regional security and stability.” This could see Moscow and Beijing continue to coordinate their responses to major global crises, including in the UN Security Council and other major international groupings like the SCO and BRICS.
Signaling deeper cooperation, Xi and Putin oversaw the signing of 20 pacts in areas spanning economy and trade, education and science and technology.
