Chinese President Xi Jinping to meet Russia's Vladimir Putin as 'no limits' partners mark 75 years of ties

Chinese President Xi Jinping is set to host Vladimir Putin when the Russian leader arrives in Beijing this week on his first overseas trip since starting his fifth term in office earlier this month.

It will also be Putin's second visit to China since October and the latest display of the strong ties between the neighbours.

"Russian President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin will pay a state visit to China on May 16-17 at the invitation of President Xi Jinping," China's foreign ministry said on Tuesday afternoon.

Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team.

While China has not openly supported Putin's invasion of Ukraine more than two years ago, its "no limits" strategic partnership with Russia has come under intense scrutiny from the United States and its allies, who have imposed sanctions on Moscow and called repeatedly for Beijing to use its leverage to bring the war to an end.

How to further strengthen Russia's strategic partnership with China, particularly economic cooperation in the face of isolation by the West, would be high on Putin's agenda as the two countries mark 75 years of diplomatic ties.

In a separate statement on Tuesday afternoon, the Kremlin said the two leaders would "discuss in detail the entire range of issues of comprehensive partnership and strategic interaction, identify key directions for the further development of Russian-Chinese practical cooperation, and also thoroughly exchange views on the most pressing international and regional issues".

The Kremlin press service said a joint statement was expected to be signed, adding that the two sides would also be signing a number of bilateral documents.

According to Russian news portal Portamur.ru, the two leaders will attend a gala to mark the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations as well as the opening of the Russian-Chinese Years of Culture, which runs from 2024-25.

Putin is also expected to visit Harbin, capital of Heilongjiang province in northeast China, where he will attend the opening ceremony of a China-Russia trade expo and meet students and staff at the Harbin Institute of Technology.

Putin's visit to Beijing in October was for a summit of the Belt and Road Initiative, the massive China-led infrastructure project that aims to connect Asia with Africa and Europe by land and sea and is widely seen as Xi's pet project.

His latest visit comes close on the heels of Xi's three-nation European tour. Meeting in Paris with French President Emmanuel Macron and EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen, Xi pledged that China would not sell arms to Russia and would control the flow of dual-use goods to its military, both raised as points of concern by the West.

According to a report on bilateral investment by a Chinese think tank, about 80 per cent of payment settlements between China and Russia were suspended as of March because of sanctions from the West.

This has "severely impacted normal trade and commercial relations" and brings home the urgent need to "build new payment-and-settlement channels as soon as possible, and resolve the threat of secondary sanctions on financial institutions", the report from the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Beijing's Renmin University said.

Less than three weeks before his invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Putin was in Beijing as one of the highest-profile guests at the Winter Olympic Games.

During talks with Xi ahead of the opening ceremony, the two sides declared a "no limits" partnership.

Close interaction between the top leaders has "ensured the smooth and stable development of China-Russia ties", Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Monday.

Officials in both Beijing and Moscow have often described the bilateral partnership as greater than a traditional alliance.

This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2024 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

Copyright (c) 2024. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.