The leaders of China and Russia vowed to deepen their “strategic partnership” in a show of solidarity in Moscow on Thursday, casting themselves as defenders of the world order.
Russian President Vladimir Putin played host to Chinese President Xi Jinping on the eve of a military parade marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe.
The two sides signed a joint statement to “further deepen the comprehensive strategic partnership of cooperation in the new era between China and Russia.”
Their meeting comes three years after Putin ordered an invasion of Ukraine, triggering the deadliest conflict in Europe since the World War II.
It also came as Taiwan’s president, in Taipei, marked the World War II anniversary by making broad comparisons between threats to European peace and aggression from China.
President Lai Ching-te told diplomats: “Authoritarianism and aggression lead only to slaughter, tragedy, and greater inequality.” He added that Taiwan – a self-governing island that China claims as its own – and Europe were “now facing the threat of a new authoritarian bloc.”
The meeting between Xi and Putin was the latest display of solidarity in what they billed in 2022 as a “no-limits” friendship. Within days of that declaration, Putin had launched a war in a sovereign nation – Ukraine – in a repudiation of international law.
While China has avoided providing overt diplomatic and military support for the invasion of Ukraine, it has thrown Russia an economic lifeline that has helped it navigate Western sanctions.
Xi’s China is facing its own forms of pressure from the West, as the country is now locked in a tariff war launched by U.S. President Donald Trump.
The Chinese leader made veiled references to the United States in his remarks Thursday.
China and Russia should “be true friends of steel that have been through a hundred trials by fire,” Xi told Putin. He also said they would work together to counter “unilateralism and bullying.”
Ja Ian Chong, associate professor at the National University of Singapore, said the more than 20 cooperation agreements signed by China and Russia on Thursday reflected that, in the current geopolitical landscape, both China and Russia need each other’s assistance.
Sung Kuo-Chen, a researcher at the Center for International Relations at National Chengchi University in Taiwan, said Xi may be concerned that Trump – who is often viewed by critics as sympathetic to Moscow – will seek to win over Putin to jointly isolate and contain China.
“This is what Xi Jinping worried about the most. He wants to once again enhance and consolidate the strategic cooperative relationship between China and Russia,” Sung told RFA.
Edited by Mat Pennington.
