When Russian President Vladimir Putin lands in Beijing on Tuesday evening, his official agenda will be to join his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, in commemorating a quarter-century-old agreement, the unambiguously described 2001 T 19reaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation.
Yet, say analysts, the significance of the Xi-Putin summit, likely to be held on Wednesday morning, runs much deeper — as does its timing.
Recommended Stories
list of 4 items- list 1 of 4Trump-Xi summit: China, US disagree on what they agreed on
- list 2 of 4Russian drone hits Chinese ship off Ukraine before Putin meets Xi Jinping
- list 3 of 4Russia’s Putin to visit China following Trump’s trip
- list 4 of 4BRICS talks end without joint statement as divisions over Iran war deepen
Putin’s visit was announced just a day after United States President Donald Trump’s departure from China following the American leader’s summit with Xi last week. While Trump touted broad trade deals, there is little evidence that the US and China made significant progress on the most contentious issues dividing Washington and Beijing, including Taiwan and the US-Israel war on Iran.
That, say analysts, suits Putin well, allowing him to head to Beijing confident that China has no plans to sidestep its relationship with Russia. For Beijing, meanwhile, the back-to-back visits are a flex of its growing diplomatic leverage, positioning China as a central player capable of engaging rival powers on its own terms.
United by Western sanctions and a view of Trump’s foreign policy as reckless, Putin and Xi have forged a right partnership in recent years — and no major shifts are expected during the Russian president’s visit. But its timing underscores how Beijing is consolidating its role at the centre of an increasingly fragmented global order, analysts say.
‘Putin needs this more than Xi’
Despite China’s posturing, no breakthroughs are expected from Putin’s visit, but rather a continuity of their strategic relationship. “I don’t think that there is going to be a major shift,” Marina Miron, a postdoctoral researcher in defence studies at King’s College London, told Al Jazeera. Post by aljazeera