China’s President Xi Jinping is reportedly preparing to visit Moscow for a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, despite rising tensions with the United States.
Preparations for the trip at at an early stage and its timing has not yet been finalised, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the plan.
Xi could visit Russia in April or in early May, when Russia celebrates its World War Two victory over Germany, the report added.
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The visit will be part of a push for multi-party talks on peace in Ukraine and allow China to reiterate its calls that nuclear weapons not be used, the WSJ said.
The report comes on the heels of the United States’ scathing warning to China against providing ‘lethal aid’ to Russia in its invasion of Ukraine.
On Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy also warned China against supporting Russia. Doing so would bring on World War Three, he said.
China responded on Tuesday saying it was “deeply worried” the Ukraine conflict could spiral out of control. It called on certain countries to stop “fuelling the fire”, in an apparent dig at the United States.
China, which signed a “no limits” partnership with Russia days before the Ukraine assault began, has refrained from condemning the war or calling it an “invasion.”
‘Russia ties rock solid’
Meanwhile, China’s top diplomat Wang Yi told one of President Vladimir Putin’s closest allies on Tuesday that Beijing’s relationship with Moscow was “rock solid”.
“Chinese-Russian relations are mature in character: they are rock solid and will withstand any test in a changing international situation,” Yi told “Comrade” Nikolai Patrushev through a Russian interpreter in remarks aired on state television.
Patrushev, secretary of Russia’s powerful Security Council, told “Comrade” Wang that Beijing was a top priority for Russian foreign policy. The two countries must stick together against the West, he said.
“In the context of a campaign that is being waged by the collective West to contain both Russia and China, the further deepening of Russian-Chinese cooperation and interaction in the international arena is of particular importance,” RIA cited Patrushev.
“I want to confirm our continued support for Beijing over the issues of Taiwan, Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong,” Patrushev added.
Joint security talks
Yi arrived in Moscow on Tuesday just hours after Putin announced Russia was suspending its participation in a landmark nuclear arms treaty with the United States.
China claims the visit is an effort to ramp up its diplomatic effort to push for a peace settlement in Ukraine.
Yi was due to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday as part of the visit to Moscow.
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Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said he does not rule out a meeting between Yi and Putin, saying “there is lots to talk about”. Yi will also likely discuss Xi’s visit to Russia.
Xi has stood by Putin, resisting Western pressure to isolate Russia.
Chinese-Russian trade has soared to new peaks since the invasion of Ukraine, and Russia has sold Asian powers including China greater volumes of oil, often at deep discounts.
Putin and Xi share a broad world view which sees the West as decadent and in decline just as China challenges US supremacy in everything from technology to espionage and military power.
The US, on the other hand, views China as the gravest long-term “strategic competitor” and Russia as an “acute threat”.
The West has also been wary of China’s response to the Ukraine war over concerns that a Russian victory would colour Beijing’s actions toward Taiwan.
At the meeting in Moscow, Yi told Patrushev he looked forward to discussions about security. Russia and China should work out new joint steps to ensure the security of both countries, he said, without elaborating.
- Reuters, with additional editing by Vishakha Saxena
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