Xi hosts Putin in Beijing

Vladimir Putin arrived in Beijing this week for a visit that put Russia’s dependence on China on public display without producing any visible change in Beijing’s broader positioning. Xi Jinping gave the Russian president a full state welcome at the Great Hall of the People on Wednesday, May 20, praising what Chinese state media called an “unyielding” relationship and standing beside Putin as the two sides signed more than 40 cooperation agreements. Putin, in turn, said ties had reached an “unprecedentedly high level” despite what he called “unfavourable external factors.” The Beijing meeting came less than a week after Xi hosted U.S. President Donald Trump in the same city, a sequence that several outlets said suited Xi’s effort to present himself as a leader dealing with rival powers from a position of autonomy. BBC reported that the back-to-back meetings reinforced Xi’s preferred image of talking to all sides while aligning fully with none, even as Chinese and Russian officials used unusually warm language about their bilateral ties. (france24.com) ### Why did Putin go to Beijing now? May 20 was the second day of Putin’s visit, and Chinese and Russian officials framed it around energy, trade and international coordination. AP and France 24 reported that China and Russia highlighted growing oil and gas trade, with Putin calling energy cooperation the “driving force” of the relationship and Xi linking regional conflict to risks for supply chains and trade flows. (bbc.com) NBC reported that Putin arrived under pressure tied to the war in Ukraine, and CNN said recent battlefield setbacks had weakened Moscow’s position and increased the value of Chinese diplomatic and economic backing. Those accounts described the trip as a reassurance-seeking visit as Russia’s room for maneuver narrowed. (apnews.com) ### What did Xi and Putin actually say in public? Xi told Putin that political trust and strategic coordination had remained resilient and “unyielding despite trials and tribulations,” according to Xinhua and AFP-based coverage. Putin said bilateral cooperation was at an “unprecedentedly high level,” a phrase repeated across Russian and international reporting on the meeting. (nbcnews.com) The two leaders also used the visit to issue broader messages on world affairs. Reuters-based reporting carried by multiple outlets said Xi warned that the world risked sliding back to a “law of the jungle,” while U.S. media and European outlets described the language as a veiled criticism of Washington’s approach to global power. (english.news.cn) ### Did Beijing offer Russia everything it wanted? More than 40 agreements were signed in Beijing on Wednesday, covering trade, technology and media exchanges, according to France 24. But the same report said there was no visible progress on the Power of Siberia 2 gas pipeline, a project Moscow has pushed as a major outlet for Russian energy exports to China. (timesnownews.com) Xinhua said the two sides agreed to further extend the China-Russia Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation, first signed in 2001. That gave the visit a concrete diplomatic outcome even without a breakthrough on the pipeline issue. ### What about the report that Xi privately warned Trump about Putin? Kyiv Post, citing a Financial Times report, said Xi told Trump during their summit in Beijing last week that Putin may come to regret launching the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. (france24.com) That account has circulated widely, but it was not reflected in the public statements Xi and Putin made during Wednesday’s ceremonies and talks. (english.news.cn) BBC and other outlets described that contrast as part of the choreography around the visit: public solidarity with Moscow, alongside efforts by Xi to keep China’s options open with Washington and other capitals. That is an interpretation attributed to those reports, not language either leader used in public in Beijing on May 20. ### What comes next after the Beijing meeting? (kyivpost.com) Putin used the meeting to invite Xi to Russia in 2027, according to multiple reports summarizing the talks and signing ceremony. Chinese and Russian state media said the leaders had also agreed to keep coordinating on trade, energy and international issues after extending the 2001 treaty. (livemint.com) (bbc.com)