Xi Jinping meets with “dear friend” Putin in Moscow to fortify the alliance against the West

Xi Jinping met Putin on his first trip since securing an unprecedented third term as China’s president earlier this month, as he seeks stronger ties with Russia to counter the West and establish China as a potential peacemaker in Ukraine.

On Monday, Chinese President Xi Jinping met with his “dear friend” Vladimir Putin in Moscow, seeking to strengthen economic ties with an ally he sees as a useful counterweight to the West while also promoting Beijing’s role as a potential peacemaker in Ukraine.

Xi was the first leader to meet with Putin since the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for him on Friday in connection with the deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia during Russia’s year-long invasion of Ukraine.
The charge was one of several “clearly hostile displays,” according to Moscow, which has opened a criminal case against the ICC prosecutor and judges. According to Beijing, the warrant reflected double standards.
Russia is presenting Xi’s trip, his first since winning an unprecedented third term earlier this month, as proof that it has a powerful ally in its standoff with a hostile West.

When the two men met in the Kremlin on Monday afternoon before a dinner, they addressed each other as “dear friend,” followed by formal talks on Tuesday.
Putin told Xi that he respected China’s proposals for resolving the Ukraine conflict and was “slightly envious” of China’s rapid development in recent decades.
“China has developed a highly effective system for economic development and state strengthening. It is significantly more effective than in many other countries “He stated.

The visit is a diplomatic tightrope for Xi.

China has issued a broad 12-point proposal to resolve the Ukraine crisis while also strengthening ties with Russia.
Beijing has repeatedly denied Western accusations that it intends to arm Russia, but it does want a closer energy partnership after increasing imports of Russian coal, gas, and oil.
“Both sides are constantly strengthening political mutual trust, creating a new paradigm of relations between major powers,” Xi wrote ahead of his trip in an article published in Russia.
Western sanctions reduced the cost of Russian energy, saving China billions of dollars, but its primary trading partners remain the United States and the European Union.
Ukraine stated that China should put pressure on Russia to end its invasion.
“We expect Beijing to use its influence on Moscow to force it to end the aggressive war against Ukraine,” said Oleg Nikolenko, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s foreign ministry.
Xi stated that China’s Ukraine peace proposal, a vague document released last month, reflects global perspectives.
“Complex problems do not have simple solutions,” he wrote in the Russian government’s daily Rossiiskaya Gazeta, according to a Reuters translation from Russian.

SCEPTICISM IN THE WEST
Ukraine and its Western allies argue that any truce would simply buy Putin time to reinforce ahead of a planned Ukrainian counter-offensive, and that in order for Russia and China to uphold international law, they must agree to Russia’s withdrawal.
White House national security spokesman John Kirby reiterated that call, adding that US President Joe Biden wanted to speak with Xi to keep lines of communication open.
Putin and Xi signed a “no limits” partnership last year, just before sending tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine to end what he saw as a threat to Russia from its neighbor’s moves toward the West. Tens of thousands of people have been killed, cities have been destroyed, and millions have been forced to flee.
Without elaborating, the Kremlin said Putin would provide Xi with detailed “clarifications” of Russia’s position.
Washington has noted that China has refused to condemn Russia and has instead provided it with an economic lifeline.
Putin stated that Russia was assisting China in the construction of nuclear power reactors and that the two countries were expanding their cooperation in space exploration and new technologies.
As Western pressure mounts on Russia, Putin’s administration has instructed officials to stop using Apple iPhones due to concerns that the devices are vulnerable to Western intelligence agencies, according to a newspaper report on Monday.
“Either throw it away or give it to the children,” a meeting participant was quoted as saying by the Kommersant daily.
Justice ministers from around the world gathered in London on Monday to discuss their support for the International Criminal Court, whose chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, has called on Russia to return the Ukrainian children to demonstrate that it is acting in their best interests, as it claims.
Several European Union countries agreed in Brussels to buy 155 mm artillery shells for Ukraine, which considers them critical given that both sides fire thousands of rounds per day.
Fighting raged on in the eastern Ukrainian town of Bakhmut, where Ukrainian forces have held out since last summer in the war’s longest and bloodiest battle.
Ukraine’s military said in its regular morning roundup from the front that defenders in Bakhmut, Lyman, Ivanivske, Bohdanivka, and Hryhorivka, all in the Donetsk region, had repelled 69 Russian attacks in the previous day.
According to British intelligence, Ukrainian supply lines west of Bakhmut and west of the town of Avdiivka, further south, are under attack.
According to Ukraine’s military, Russian forces are on the defensive in the southern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.