The two leaders meet via videoconference. As Moscow grapples with repeated setbacks in the war against Ukraine; Beijing is under increasing pressure over its mismanagement of the pandemic. Although the two partners reiterated their desire to boost bilateral cooperation, it is highly unlikely that Xi will agree to visit Russia if Putin continues to suffer defeats in Ukraine.
Beijing (AsiaNews) – Vladimir Putin today invited Xi Jinping to Moscow for a state visit in the spring during a videoconference between the two leaders.
In his address, the Russian leader stressed that the visit would show the world the “strength of Russian-Chinese ties”.
China has not openly condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine and in some forums, like the United Nations, has provided some political cover for Putin's war of aggression.
Taking advantage of Western sanctions against Russia, China has also bought large quantities of Russian gas and oil at discounted prices, which has helped the Russian economy avoid collapse.
Xi has been careful, however, not to help Putin to the point of incurring secondary sanctions from the United States and its allies.
In their virtual tête-à-tête, Putin asked his Chinese counterpart to boost military cooperation between the two countries.
Despite the announcement of a “friendship without limits" between Russia and China on the eve of the Russian attack against Ukraine, nothing suggests that Beijing has provided Moscow with any military support.
Responding to Putin's speech, Xi said that his country was ready to deepen strategic cooperation with Russia at a time when the whole world was experiencing a “difficult” situation.
Still, like Russian’s “tsar”, China's supreme leader is hard-pressed at home, grappling again with the COVID-19 pandemic, whose resurgence in early December follows rare mass protests by ordinary Chinese forcing the authorities to end Xi’s draconian "zero-Covid" policy.
Back in September, during a summit in Uzbekistan of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, China expressed concerns about the war in Ukraine, as Putin himself acknowledged.
In a 21 December meeting with former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Xi called for a negotiated solution to the Russo-Ukrainian conflict.
Weakened internally by his disastrous handling of the pandemic emergency, it will be hard for Xi to agree to go to Moscow if the Russians continue to suffer defeats in Ukraine.
China's supreme leader cannot afford to be associated with a “loser”, who will be of little use in China’s geopolitical confrontation with the United States.