Xi defends China's 'normal trade' with Russia in talks with Polish leader Duda

President Xi Jinping defended China's trade ties with Russia during a meeting with his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda in Beijing on Monday.

Xi also said China's position on the war in Ukraine was unchanged - to push for peace talks and seek a political settlement to the crisis, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

"China opposes the attempt by some people using the normal trade between China and Russia as an excuse to smear China and divert conflicts," Xi said.

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He said efforts should be made to avoid any expansion or worsening of the conflict, to cool down the situation, and to create the conditions needed for peace talks.

"China is willing to continue to play a constructive role in our own way towards a political settlement of the Ukrainian crisis," Xi said.

Xi Jinping and Andrzej Duda review a military honour guard in Beijing. Photo: EPA-EFE alt=Xi Jinping and Andrzej Duda review a military honour guard in Beijing. Photo: EPA-EFE>

Duda, who is in the last year of his final term as Poland's president, has appeared to take a pragmatic approach to China. But the war in Ukraine, which borders Poland, has affected relations - Warsaw is one of the most vocal supporters of Kyiv and the Nato member has raised concerns about Beijing's close ties with Moscow.

During their talks on Monday, Xi also called for more bilateral coordination with Poland under the Belt and Road Initiative, including on the China-Europe Railway Express (CRE) - a key logistical cog in the strategy.

In addition, Xi called for more cooperation on trade, agriculture, the digital economy, green industry and clean energy, according to CCTV.

Xi pledged to open the Chinese market to more agricultural and food products from Poland, and announced that Polish nationals would be granted 15-day visa-free entry to China.

Duda was quoted as saying that Poland, as the rotating chair of the European Union in the first half of 2025, would like to play a constructive role in promoting the development of EU-China relations and to continue to push for cooperation between Central and Eastern European countries and China.

Duda said bilateral diplomatic, political and interpersonal relations between the two nations were "good" and "based on mutual respect".

"I hope they will always be like this in the future," he said, while inviting Xi to visit Poland in the first half of next year.

The two leaders also witnessed the signing of several bilateral agreements, including on trade and agriculture, after the talks.

Xi Jinping called for more cooperation on trade, agriculture and clean energy. Photo: EPA-EFE alt=Xi Jinping called for more cooperation on trade, agriculture and clean energy. Photo: EPA-EFE>

Duda's five-day visit, which began on Saturday, is his first trip to China in more than two years. He will attend the World Economic Forum meeting in the northeastern city of Dalian in Liaoning province on Tuesday, followed by a stop in financial hub Shanghai.

It comes as Beijing has stepped up efforts to cement a network of friends in Europe, including Xi's tour of France, Serbia and Hungary last month.

Trade frictions between Beijing and Brussels are rising, while geopolitical rivalry with the US-led transatlantic alliance Nato has intensified, and there are wider suspicions across European capitals over China's stance on Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Meanwhile, China's original 17+1 cooperation framework with Central and Eastern European nations has stalled since the Baltic states quit the group.

Duda also met Premier Li Qiang on Monday, discussing economic issues and Ukraine.

Before he left for China, Duda signalled that he would lobby the Chinese leadership to play a bigger role in ending the conflict in Ukraine.

"It is no secret that China's influence - including China's influence on Russia - is certainly enormous," he told reporters on Saturday. "Presenting our view on this issue to the chairman, President Xi Jinping, in my opinion is crucial."

He said geopolitical turmoil was jeopardising China's belt and road scheme and economic cooperation with Europe, noting that one railway link in the strategy that runs through Ukraine was "obviously affected by the ongoing war".

Duda said another railway through Belarus was also under threat as Minsk was pushing a growing number of migrants to the border with Poland. "I would like to present this situation to ... President Xi Jinping and tell him what the realities are and what we are facing," he added.

Poland was one of the first in Europe to sign an intergovernmental memorandum of understanding with Beijing to develop the belt and road strategy. Some 90 per cent of trains on the CRE pass through or have Poland as a destination.

China is Poland's second-largest trading partner, after neighbouring Germany. It is China's top trading partner in Central and Eastern Europe.

China's imports from Poland fell by 0.7 per cent in US dollar terms in the first five months of the year from the same time in 2023, according to Chinese customs data. But China's exports to Poland grew by 2 per cent.

Warsaw's trade deficit with the world's No 2 economy widened by 0.7 per cent from a year ago to US$13.6 billion in the January-May period.

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.

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