Putin, Xi to Meet in Beijing This Week

A Chinese paramilitary policeman stands guard at Tiananmen Square during the opening session of the National People's Congress on March 5, 2019 in Beijing, China. Photo by Lintao Zhang/Getty Images

Russian President Vladimir Putin will travel to China to meet with communist leadership this week as part of a wider effort to deepen the two nations’ partnership against the prevailing international order.

Mr. Putin will meet Chinese Communist Party (CCP) General Secretary Xi Jinping at the Belt and Road Initiative forum in Beijing on Oct. 17–18. He is reportedly traveling with Russian oil tycoons Alexei Miller and Igor Sechin, who head Gazprom and Rosneft, respectively.

The trip is Mr. Putin’s first venture beyond the borders of the former Soviet Union since the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for him over his forced deportation of Ukrainian children. Mr. Putin has visited occupied Ukraine in that time, however.

The in-person meeting will be the second between Mr. Putin and Mr. Xi this year. It also occurs as U.S. President Joe Biden is seeking to secure a meeting with Mr. Xi.

China Supports Russia Despite International Pressure

China and Russia declared a “no limits” partnership just weeks before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The Biden administration considers China and Russia to be the United States’ pacing challenges and greatest nation-state threats.

The two powers have worked since 2022 to expand their de facto alliance across diplomatic, economic, and military domains.

During a visit to Moscow in March, Mr. Xi said that he and Mr. Putin were driving “the change which hasn’t happened in 100 years.”

Mr. Putin, meanwhile, said that China and Russia would create a more just “multipolar world order” to replace the “rules” of the current international order.

Likewise, a statement from the CCP said that the two nations share “the view that this relationship has gone far beyond the bilateral scope and acquired critical importance for the global landscape and the future of humanity.”

The CCP has subsequently come under fire internationally for its continued support of Russia throughout the ongoing war in Ukraine.

The United States has accused the CCP of considering providing Russia with military support for the war, and Washington has blacklisted numerous Chinese companies for supplying military equipment to Russia for use in Ukraine.

Mr. Xi also refuses to join in international sanctions on Russia for the invasion of Ukraine, and the CCP has consistently taken the position that global financial actions against Russia are invalid, thus providing Russia with a vital economic lifeline in Chinese markets.

U.S. intelligence leaders have said the CCP–Kremlin partnership will likely deepen in the coming decade.

Russia Now China’s Foremost Partner

During the 30 years since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Russian economy and military have cratered to the point that Moscow is now considered the much junior partner to China.

Still, the CCP has to balance its fervor in undermining Washington with the fact that the United States remains by far the world’s strongest economy and military power.

To that end, Mr. Xi is seeking to deepen ties with Mr. Putin to better undermine the United States and the international order that it leads, said Patricia Kim, a fellow at the Brookings Institution think tank.

“[China] hasn’t dialed back on its ties with Moscow, let alone used pressure on Putin to try to rein in his invasion of Ukraine,” Ms. Kim said during a Sept. 26 panel discussion at the Brookings Institution.

“It’s clear that Xi sees Putin as his most important partner in eroding what he sees as a Western-dominated global order.”