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 Andrei Denisov told reporters on Wednesday, according to Russian state news agency Tass.
The expected meeting at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit will be the first face-to-face between the two leaders, who have forged a close relationship since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine earlier this year.
It would also be Xi’s first trip abroad since the early days of the coronavirus pandemic and comes just weeks before a major political meeting in Beijing, where he is expected to break with tradition and take a third term in power, consolidating his his role as China’s most powerful leader in decades.
“This summit promises to be interesting, because it will be the first full summit after the pandemic,” Denisov said, according to Tass.
“I don’t want to say that online summits are not full, but still, direct communication between leaders is a different quality of discussion … We are planning a serious, full meeting of our leaders with a detailed agenda, which now, in fact, they are working with our Chinese partners,” the diplomat said.
On Wednesday, China’s number three leader Li Zhanshu, a member of the CCP’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 with Putin on Wednesday, according to Tass.
The expected meeting between Xi and Putin next week – and the choice of destination for Xi’s first trip abroad – signals the importance of the Russian relationship to China, even in the face of international backlash against Moscow following its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine earlier this year. .
Moscow and Beijing have emerged as closer partners in recent years as both face tensions with the West, with Xi and Putin saying the two countries had a “borderless” partnership weeks before Russia’s invasion in Ukraine. Beijing has since refused to condemn the attack, instead repeatedly blaming NATO and the United States for the conflict.
When asked about travel plans for Xi in Central Asia this month, China’s Foreign Ministry on Wednesday said it could not provide any information.
The potential 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 the flagship Belt and Road Initiative during a 2013 visit to Kazakhstan.
The SCO summit will be held from September 15 in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. The organization is contested by 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 the ensuing 20th Party Congress of China could be interpreted as a sign of the leader’s confidence and power. .
“It shows that most of the decisions on personnel arrangements for his third term have probably been made … I don’t think he really faces any challenge internally,” Wu said.
Putin is one of the few world leaders Xi has met face-to-face since the start of 2020. The Russian leader traveled to Beijing for the Winter Olympics this February and was seen as the most prominent world leader to attend the event. , which many Western nations are boycotting, citing China’s human rights record.
It was at that meeting that the two framed their “borderless” cooperation and released a 5,000-word document expressing their joint opposition to “further enlargement of NATO” and pledging to “remain highly vigilant about the negative impact of the United States”. Indo-Pacific Strategy’.
China has continued to speak out against Western sanctions against Moscow and refused to condemn Russia, while Chinese energy companies have bought Russian energy supplies at record levels as a boon for Russian businesses amid Western sanctions.
On Tuesday, Russian energy giant Gazprom said it had signed an agreement to begin switching payments for gas supplies to China in yuan and rubles instead of dollars, a development that Putin mentioned in his speech on Wednesday at the Eastern Economic Forum.
While Russia and China have been drawn closer by respective frictions with the West, the personal relationship between the two leaders, in which Xi has described Putin as his “best and closest friend”, is also seen as strengthening its momentum strengthening their relationship at the national level.
The two leaders have spoken twice by phone since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to official statements. Their latest phone call, which came on Xi’s 69th birthday, continued a trend of the two leaders celebrating each other’s birthdays when they coincide with diplomatic engagements.
China was “willing to work with Russia to promote solidarity and cooperation among emerging market countries … and push for the development of international order and global governance in a more just and reasonable direction,” Xi said. at that time.
The anticipated trip and summit on the sidelines this month will only serve to strengthen that relationship, itself making an important statement about where China’s current and future leader sees his country’s loyalties.
Wu in Singapore said he expected the meeting to further cement both the friendship between Xi and Putin – and between China and Russia. He said it was not surprising that Xi would choose to meet Putin over leaders from the US or Europe on his first trip abroad since the pandemic.
“If he goes to the US or Europe, he will probably face a lot of challenges. When he goes to Putin, he will get all kinds of praise from his friend, who is happy to be a powerful man,” Wu said.
