The Russian president arrived on Tuesday night (local time) on a state visit during which he will meet with his Chinese counterpart, aiming to project an image of steady relations between Moscow and Beijing, days after the US president visited the Chinese capital.
The plane carrying Putin landed at Beijing International Airport, where military officials and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi were waiting to welcome him.
What will Putin and Xi discuss?
Aged 73 and 72 respectively, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping will discuss ways to “strengthen” the bilateral strategic partnership and “exchange views on major international and regional issues,” according to the Russian presidency.
The two presidents will exchange views on bilateral relations, cooperation in various fields and international and regional issues of mutual concern, according to China’s foreign ministry.
No sooner had the occupant of the White House completed his visit on Friday, the first by an American president to China in nine years, than the arrival in the country of the head of the Kremlin was made official.
At the Putin-Xi meeting, according to what the representative of the Russian president, Dmitry Peskov, reported a few days ago, the two men will discuss, among other things, what was said between the Chinese leader and the US president on all matters of interest.
What Putin said before his arrival in Beijing
Vladimir Putin, a few hours before his two-day visit to Beijing, assured that the governments of Russia and China are ready to support each other on a wide range of issues, especially to protect their national sovereignty and national unity.
The relationship between the two countries has reached an “unprecedented level” in terms of mutual understanding and trust, Putin said. The two countries want to continue their cooperation in a mutually beneficial way and based on the principles of equality, to “support each other in matters concerning their central interests, including the protection of national sovereignty and unity,” the Russian president insisted, without being more specific.
The two sides are actively expanding their economic, political and defense ties, he said, speaking of a “close” and “strategic” relationship that plays a “stabilizing role” in international relations.
“We are not aligned against anyone, we are working for the cause of peace and universal prosperity,” added the Russian president in this message.
