“At the invitation of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, President Xi Jinping will pay a state visit to Russia from March 20 to 22”The Chinese ministry said in a statement.
Wang Wenbin, spokesman for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said: What will be Xi Jinping’s first visit to Russian soil in nearly four years is aimed at promoting “peace.”. However, the Chinese capital did not directly mention the war in Ukraine: the same spokesman pointed to a brief exchange of views on important regional and international issues, strengthening “bilateral trust” and deepening “economic partnerships”.
Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin last met in Uzbekistan in September during the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit.
The Chinese leader’s visit to Moscow comes after Beijing unveiled a 12-point plan for a “political solution to the Ukraine crisis” last month.Mutual respect for the security and sovereignty of citizens. The initiative was quickly discredited by most Western foreign ministries.On Thursday, a senior Chinese diplomat renewed calls for talks between the Russians and Ukrainians during a phone conversation with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.
The United States and other NATO allies question the credibility of the Chinese plan because of Beijing’s lack of clear condemnation of its aggression against Ukraine, which the Kremlin continues to characterize as a “special military operation.” .
“Strategic Cooperation”
However, the Russian president signaled in a statement Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin are set to discuss “topics for developing broader ties of partnership and strategic cooperation between Russia and China.”. As for the situation in Ukraine, Moscow welcomes what it sees as China’s “control”.Some international media reported that the Chinese president will talk to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the phone after his visit to Moscow. However, officially, Beijing has not confirmed it.
China and Russia announced an “unlimited” partnership in February 2022, days before the invasion of Ukraine. Since then, bilateral relations have been continuously strengthened and trade between the two countries has accelerated – remember that China is Russia’s largest oil importer.
Analysis by international affairs commentator Philip Vasconcelos Romao
In the current context of the war, there is practically no room for any mediation talks: Moscow is insisting that Kiev agree to annex four parts of eastern and southern Ukraine, except for the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which it occupied in 2014. ; The Ukrainian government would accept negotiations only if it was guaranteed from the start that Russia would withdraw beyond the border line resulting from the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
w/ agencies
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