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Putin and Xi to meet face-to-face next week, says Russian envoy, according to state media

2022-09-07T10:36:23.254Z


Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet on the sidelines of a summit in Uzbekistan next week, Russia's envoy to Beijing Andrey Denisov told reporters on Wednesday, according to the state news agency. Russian Tass.


Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, two strong leaders with a special relationship 2:41

Hong Kong (CNN)

Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet on the sidelines of a summit in Uzbekistan next week, Russia's envoy to Beijing Andrey Denisov told reporters on Wednesday. according to the Russian state news agency Tass.

The long-awaited meeting at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit would be the first face-to-face meeting between the two leaders, who have established a close relationship since Russia's invasion of Ukraine earlier this year.

  • ANALYSIS |

    Putin and Xi grow closer as ties with the West deteriorate

It would also be Xi's first foreign trip since the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, and it will come just weeks before a major political meeting in Beijing, where he is expected to break with tradition and take on a third term in office. cementing his role as China's most powerful leader in decades.

Chinese President Xi Jinping holds talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Diaoyutai State Guest House in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 4, 2022.

On Wednesday, China's No. 3 leader Li Zhanshu, a member of the Chinese Communist Party's Politburo Standing Committee, became the highest-ranking official to leave China since 2020, when he arrived in Vladivostok to attend the Eastern Economic Forum. .

Li was expected to meet Putin on Wednesday, according to Tass.

Next week's planned meeting between Xi and Putin, and the choice of the destination for Xi's first foreign trip, signal the importance of the Russian relationship to China, even in the face of the international coup against Moscow after its unprovoked invasion of Russia. Ukraine earlier this year.

Moscow and Beijing have become closer partners in recent years as both face tensions with the West, with Xi and Putin declaring the two countries had a "no-limit" partnership weeks before Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Since then, Beijing has refused to condemn the aggression, instead repeatedly blaming NATO and the United States for the conflict.

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Asked about Xi's travel plans to Central Asia this month, China's foreign ministry said on Wednesday it could not provide any information.

The possible visit to Central Asia as Xi's first official visit outside China since early 2020 would also be a nod to his own legacy of boosting China's international profile during his decade in power.

Xi announced his landmark Belt and Road Initiative during a visit to Kazakhstan in 2013.

The SCO summit will be held from September 15 in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

The organization is made up of China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Alfred Wu, associate professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, said Xi's decision to make a rare trip abroad just weeks before China's 20th Party Congress could be interpreted as a sign of the leader's confidence and strength.

"It shows that most of the decisions on staffing arrangements for his third term have probably already been made... I really don't think he's under challenge at the national level," Wu said.

Putin is one of the few world leaders Xi has met face-to-face since early 2020. The Russian leader traveled to Beijing for his Winter Olympics in February this year and was seen as the most prominent world leader in join the event, which several Western nations boycotted, citing China's human rights record.

It was at that meeting that the two framed their partnership "without limits" and released a 5,000-word document expressing their shared opposition to "further enlargement of NATO" and pledging to "remain highly vigilant about the negative impact of the Indus Strategy". -United States Pacific".

China has continued to speak out against Western sanctions against Moscow and refused to condemn Russia, while Chinese energy companies bought Russian energy supplies at record levels in a boon to Russian businesses amid Western sanctions.

On Tuesday, Russian energy giant Gazprom said it had signed an agreement to start switching payments for gas supplies to China to yuan and rubles instead of dollars, a development Putin alluded to in his Wednesday speech at the Eastern Economic Forum.

While Russia and China have grown closer over respective frictions with the West, the personal relationship between the two leaders, in which Xi has described Putin as his "best friend of the soul", is also thought to reinforce the dynamic of their relationship. strengthening at the national level.

The two leaders have spoken twice by phone since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, according to official readings.

Their last call, which coincided with Xi's 69th birthday, continued the trend of the two leaders celebrating each other's birthdays when they coincided with diplomatic engagements.

China was "willing to work with Russia to promote solidarity and cooperation among emerging market countries... and push the development of the international order and global governance in a more just and reasonable direction," Xi said at the time.

The expected trip and secondary summit this month would only serve to reinforce that relationship, which in itself would be a significant statement about where China's current and future leader views his country's loyalties.

Wu in Singapore said he hopes the meeting will further cement the friendship between Xi and Putin, and between China and Russia.

He said it is not surprising that Xi would choose to meet with Putin over leaders of the United States or Europe on his first trip abroad since the pandemic.

"If he goes to the United States or Europe, he will probably face many challenges. When he goes to Putin, he will get all kinds of praise from his friend, who is happy that he is a strong man," Wu said.

Vladimir Putin Xi Jinping

Source: cnnespanol

All news articles on 2022-09-07

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