BEJING: Vladimir Putin, the Russian President, arrived in China on Thursday to meet Xi Jinping. This move is seen as an attempt to get further support from Beijing for his Ukrainian war efforts and for his economy that is isolated.
This is Putin’s first trip abroad since his reelection in March and the second one in just over six months to China, which has been providing a lifeline for the economy of Russia due to unprecedented western sanctions against it because of its military moves in Ukraine.
Russian television images showed Putin being welcomed by Chinese officials and an honor guard after alighting from his plane at around dawn during the two-day state visit.
Hours before Xi Jinping returned last week from a tour of Europe involving three countries, he dismissed criticism about his country’s relations with Moscow by the West, while benefiting from cheap energy imports from Russia and vast natural resources including steady supplies of gas through Power of Siberia pipeline.
In 2022 the leaders called this a relationship without boundaries.
“This is Putin’s first trip overseas following his inauguration and thus it is aimed at demonstrating that Sino-Russian relations are moving onto another level,” independent Russian political analyst Konstantin Kalachev told AFP.
“This ignores obvious and sincere personal friendly relations between two leaders.”
However, given growing scrutiny on economic partnership by Western countries, Chinese banks fearing US sanctions that could lead them to be excluded from global financial network have started tightening screws on Russian companies.
The Kremlin said this week that the two leaders would discuss “comprehensive partnership and strategic cooperation” as well as “determine main orientation for development of cooperation between Russia and China” and “exchange opinions concerning international processes.”
In an interview with Xinhua published ahead of his visit, Mr. Putin also praised the “real desire” of Beijing to resolve situation surrounding Ukraine
Last month when Antony Blinken met Xi Jinping in Beijing he warned how China’s support for Russia’s brutal war aggression toward Ukraine helped it to increase production of rockets, drones as well as tanks – although he did not mention about direct weapons supplies.
China has positioned itself as a neutral party in the Ukrainian conflict, while Beijing’s foreign ministry said that the two leaders will “exchange views on bilateral ties, cooperation in various fields and international and regional issues of mutual interest”.
Slow business
Trade between China and Russia has thrived since Ukraine was invaded with Chinese customs showing a 2023 figure of $240 billion.
Following Washington’s announcement that it would target financial institutions facilitating Moscow, Chinese exports to Russia fell in March and April after an early-year spike.
The December executive order by President Joe Biden enables secondary sanctions against foreign banks serving Russia’s war machine, thus enabling US Treasury to exclude them from the global market led by dollar.
That could make China hesitant about this open up additional cooperation with Russia – regardless of what any decisions may be made by Moscow – if they also aim at rebuilding broken relationship with American counterparts, analysts have warned.
Eight people doing cross-border trade between both countries told AFP in past days several Chinese banks had stopped or slowed down transactions with Russian clients.
“‘Don’t put all your eggs in one basket’ is a popular adage in the banking industry because banks would rather be safe than sorry, hence reducing the volume of their transactions.”( According to Director of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center Berlin Alexander Gabuev)
This creates a significant hurdle for Chinese firms and banks when it comes to ascertaining if these payments are related to the Russian military-industrial complex, he told AFP.
Putin’s visit to Beijing soon after his re-election has striking resemblances with Xi’s trip to Russia following his own renomination by the Communist Party last year.
It is anticipated that this week’s meeting will have highly symbolic significance as various experts anticipate cheers for “no limits” partnership, some agreements are projected to be signed and promises for enhanced trade volumes made.
According to the Kremlin, the two leaders will sign a joint declaration at the end of their discussions and will also attend an event commemorating 75 years of diplomatic ties between Russia and China.
In addition, Putin will hold talks with Premier Li Qiang who is number two official in China’s administration and travel on to Harbin city located in its northeastern region where there is an ongoing trade and investment expo.
