Get Guardian on Google
Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin applauded on Monday the solidity of their alliance as the Chinese leader headed to Moscow for a summit with the internationally isolated Russian president.
[ad]
Xi described his trip as a “journey of friendship, cooperation and peace”, though China has been criticised by Western nations for what they consider tacit backing and diplomatic cover for Russia’s war in Ukraine.
“I look forward to working with President Putin to jointly adopt a new vision” for relations, Xi wrote in a signed article in the newspaper Russian Gazette that was also carried by Chinese state news agency Xinhua.
China has sought to portray itself as a neutral party in the Ukraine war, and its foreign ministry said last week that Beijing would “play a constructive role in promoting peace talks” between Kyiv and Moscow.
Putin welcomed Beijing’s moves on Ukraine as being indicative of a willingness to play a “constructive role” in ending the conflict, while saying Chinese-Russian relations were “at the highest point”.
Xi’s trip serves to bolster an isolated Putin, who in a defiant move on Sunday went to the Ukrainian city of Mariupol — his first visit to territory captured from Kyiv since Moscow’s invasion in February 2022.
Xi’s visit also comes just days after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Putin on the war crime accusation of unlawfully deporting Ukrainian children.
Beijing said on Monday the ICC should avoid what it called “politicisation and double standards”, and respect immunity for heads of state.
The court should “uphold an objective and impartial stance” and “respect the immunity of heads of state from jurisdiction under international law”, foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told a regular briefing.
[ad]
