At a Beijing conference on Thursday, the two frontrunners reaffirmed a “no-limits” collaboration that has grown stronger as both nations are enduring worsening conflicts with the western. Russian President Vladimir Putin thanked Chinese leader Xi Jinping for work to fix the Ukraine conflict.
Putin’s two-day state visit to one of his strongest supporters comes as his government’s forces launch an offensive in the Kharkiv region of northern Ukraine in the most important border invasion since the full-scale invasion first commenced.
The mostly symbolic visit highlighted the importance of a relationship between two nations that have difficulties in their marriage with the US and Europe.
Both sides want to demonstrate that, despite what is happening around the world and the pressure from the US, they are not about to turn their backs on one another whenever soon, according to Hoo Tiang Boon, a teacher at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.
Both leaders made no further announcements in their public remarks on Thursday evening, despite the fact that they both declared they were trying to put an end to the conflict in Ukraine. China is a considerable influencer because it is a major supporter of Russia’s invasion.
The nation claims to be balanced in the conflict, but it has supported Moscow’s claims that the West provoked Russia into attacking Ukraine, and it continues to provide Russia with essential components for its weapons production.
China submitted a loosely worded peace program in 2023, but it was rejected by both Ukraine and the West because it failed to call for Russia to keep occupied regions of Ukraine.
China “hopes for the first gain of Europe to peace and stability and will continue to play a creative role in this,” Xi said while addressing Putin.
His words echoed those made by China last year when it initially unveiled a comprehensive peace plan outlining general guidelines for ending the conflict in Ukraine.
Putin stated that he would thoroughly update the Chinese leader on” the state of the Ukraine” and that he appreciated our Chinese counterparts ‘ efforts to control the situation. He added that they planned to discuss foreign policy at a early Thursday casual meeting.
The two-year-old conflict has reached a critical step as Ukraine’s exhausted military watches for new products of anti-aircraft rockets and artillery shell from the United States after months of holding off on receiving them.
Following their first meeting, the two frontrunners signed a joint statement to deepen the comprehensive strategic relationship between their two countries before their remarks. Despite their differences, Xi said China and Russia will continue to hold a non-alliance and non-confrontational status.
The helpful” no limits” marriage they signed in 2022, just before Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, was yet another confirmation of the agreement on Thursday.
Since then, as American sanctions have slowed its access to a lot of the world’s trading system, Russia has grown more financially dependent on China. China’s improved trade with Russia, totaling$ 240 billion last month, has helped the country alleviate some of the worst pushback from punishment.
Moscow has relied on Chinese firms to import high-tech pieces for Russian military sectors to avoid American sanctions by shifting the bulk of its energy exports to China.
” I and President Putin agree, we should constantly look for consolidation details of the interests of both nations, to develop each’s benefits, and develop integration of passions, realizing each some ‘ efforts”, Xi said.
In their appointment, Xi congratulated Putin on his second term in office and observed the 75th anniversary of the establishment of political relations between the former Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China following a civil war in 1949. Putin and Xi have not announced any plans for any potential successors, and he has n’t faced any credible opposition in the presidential election.
Putin stated in an interview with Chinese media on the day of the visit that the Kremlin is ready to discuss over the conflict in Ukraine. We’re opened to a speech on Ukraine, but negotiations must take into account the interests of all parties involved in the conflict, including own, according to Putin, who was quoted by the standard Xinhua News Agency.
Putin claimed that a Chinese request from 2023, which Ukraine and the West rejected, could “lay the foundations for a political and diplomatic approach that would take into account Russia’s safety issues and contribute to achieving a long-term and green peace.”
Any negotiations must include a restitution of Ukraine’s territorial integrity, the withdrawal of Russian troops, the release of all prisoners, a tribunal for those responsible for the aggression, and security guarantees for Ukraine, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Putin praised China’s peace plan and attributed the West’s failure to negotiate in the first few weeks of the conflict.
During the conflict in Ukraine, Russian-Chinese military ties also increased. In recent years, they have conducted a number of joint war games, including naval drills and long-range bomber patrols over the East China Sea and the Sea of Japan. Russian and Chinese ground forces are also conducting joint drills on the same country’s territory.
China continues to be a significant market for the Russian military, and it is also significantly expanding its domestic defense, including building aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines.
Putin has previously claimed that Russia has been cooperating with China to develop highly sensitive military technologies that significantly increased its defense potential. He mentioned that Russia was working with China to create an early warning system for ballistic missile launches in October 2019, a system that only Russia and the US could control thanks to ground-based radar and satellites.
