Putin cosies up to Xi on momentous Moscow visit
In a big show of Sino-Russian unity, presidents Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin vowed not to bow to US “diktat” during Xi’s first state visit to Moscow since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Putin called the Chinese leader his “dear friend”, while Xi commended Putin’s “strong leadership” at the start of a two-day visit designed to be a shot across the West’s bows.
Ukraine, inevitably, was high on the agenda. Putin said he welcomed China’s proposed peace plan. “We are always open to negotiations,” he said.
Although Xi didn’t mention the West or NATO by name, he criticised “acts of hegemony, domination and bullying”. By contrast, he said China was ready to “stand guard over the world order based on international law.”
The comments chime with Xi’s new guise of a global peacemaker. He already has one notable diplomatic victory under his belt – the détente between arch-rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran, negotiated by China.
But the chances of achieving a similar feat on Ukraine are vanishingly slim, not least because China is far from being a neutral third party. In reality, Beijing is determined to avoid the military collapse of its Russian ally. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken warned today that China’s peace proposals were a stalling tactic: “The world should not be fooled by any tactical move by Russia, supported by China or any other country, to freeze the war on its own terms.”
Xi is thought to be planning a phone call with Volodymyr Zelensky in the coming days, a tantalising prospect for the Ukrainian leader given the extent of Xi’s leverage over Putin. Yet as long as Ukraine believes it can turn the tide of the war, and while Russian troops remain on Ukrainian soil, it will reject any peace deal out of hand. Beijing knows this; the peace proposal is all about optics.
As is the show of affection between the two leaders, although Xi once described Putin as his “best, most intimate friend.” In 2013, the two leaders met for the first time at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Bali. As one expert in Russo-Chinese relations told POLITICO, while it wasn’t “a boozy night… they opened up and there was a really functioning chemistry.” It was Putin’s birthday, and Xi presented him with a cake. They shared vodka and sandwiches.
Despite the show of personal chumminess and close strategic alliance in Moscow today, the cold calculus of geopolitics was whirring beneath the surface.
According to the Russian news agency, TASS, the two leaders are expected to sign up to a dozen agreements to boost trade and strengthen ties. Energy cooperation is low-hanging fruit; the West shunning Russian oil and gas means Beijing can buy lots of it at a knock-down price.
Other matters will be less straightforward. Xi wants Russia to be China’s junior partner in challenging the West. The terms of the relationship are up for negotiation. And Putin wants a reluctant China to supply weapons, equipment and ammunition to support his struggling war effort. Any deal on weapons struck by the two leaders at their summit will be kept firmly under wraps.
Whatever is agreed, Xi’s presence itself is a success for Putin, who’s trying to sell the idea that despite Russia’s isolation on the world stage, it still has powerful allies.
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