MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that he planned to visit Beijing in May, local media reported on Friday. The visit is likely to be the first overseas trip of Putin’s new six-year term, after an election in March. He last visited China in 2023.
Putin had inked a “no limits” partnership agreement with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in February 2022 less than three weeks before sending his forces into Ukraine.
Diplomatic and trade relations with China have taken on even greater significance for Russia as Western nations have hit it with successive waves of sanctions since the start of the conflict.
The development takes place as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has also landed in Beijing. China has asked Blinken to address increasing disagreements or risk a “downward spiral” between the two sides as talks opened in Beijing.
Chinese Minister for Foreign Affairs Wang Yi, receiving the US Secretary of State at the Diaoyutai state guesthouse in the capital’s ancient gardens, said ties between the world’s two major economies were “beginning to stabilize” after President Xi Jinping and President Joe Biden met at a November summit.
“But at the same time, the negative factors in the ties are still increasing and building,” Wang stated. He said that the relationship is facing all types of disruptions. China’s legitimate development rights have been unreasonably suppressed and our main interests are facing several challenges. He questioned, should China and the US keep in the right direction of moving forward with stability, or return to a downward spiral?
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