Beijing, May 18: Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit China on Tuesday – a trip that comes shortly after his US counterpart Donald Trump’s visit to Beijing for talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
Xi and Putin will exchange views on bilateral ties, cooperation in various fields, as well as international and regional issues of mutual interest, during Putin’s two-day visit, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Monday.
This will be Putin’s 25th visit to China, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun told a media briefing in Beijing, emphasising on close strategic ties between the two countries as well as strong friendship and rapport between the leaders.
“The two sides will take this visit as an opportunity to continue to promote the development of China-Russia relations to a higher level, which will inject greater stability and positive energy into the world,” Guo said.
Since Xi took over power in 2012, the two leaders met dozens of times, frequently referring to each other as “dear friend” and emphasising mutual trust.
Their ties have strengthened through cooperation in trade, energy, security and efforts to counter western influence.
Many observers view the Xi-Putin relationship as one of the most significant political partnerships in contemporary global affairs.
Putin’s visit to Beijing comes days after Trump’s three-day visit here from May 14 to 16, during which he held closed-door talks with Xi on a host of global and bilateral issues. The key focus of Trump’s visit to China was the blockade of the Strait Hormuz caused by the ongoing conflict in West Asia, which has caused a severe energy crisis all over the world.
The conflict started on February 28 when the US and Israel launched joint attacks on Iran, triggering retaliatory strikes.
Iran is a close strategic ally of both Russia and China. Both countries are major arms suppliers to Iran. Also, China imports 90 per cent of Iranian oil, disregarding US sanctions.
A White House fact-sheet released on Sunday about Trump’s visit to Beijing said both the US and China have agreed that Iran cannot possess nuclear weapons and they have called to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. They also agreed that no country or organisation can be allowed to charge tolls, the readout said, in apparent reference to Iran’s plans to charge ships passing through the Strait.
When asked to comment on the White House fact sheet, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said that during President Trump’s visit, the two heads of state agreed on a new vision of building “a constructive China-US relationship of strategic stability” as the “new positioning” of bilateral relations.
They also mapped out plans for high-level engagements and dialogue cooperation across diplomacy, economy, trade and other fields in the next phase, and had in-depth exchanges of views on international and regional issues of mutual concern.
