Analysts expect the two leaders to display a united front as they’re facing mounting challenges at home and abroad.
Russian President Vladimir Putin landed in Beijing on Tuesday to meet his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, in a first major international trip since the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant and accused him of committing a war crime over Ukraine.
China rolled out the red carpet and arranged a military honor guard as Mr. Putin arrived in Beijing on Tuesday morning, footage provided by China’s state media shows. China’s commerce minister, Wang Wentao, greeted the Russian leader at the airport.
The Russian leader will attend a high-level forum marking the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a China-led multi-billion ambitious infrastructure project that is aimed at extending the regime’s global influence.
China’s state media hailed the summit as this year’s “most important diplomatic event,” which gathers heads of state and representatives from more than 140 countries and 30 global organizations. Most of them are from developing countries, such as Argentina, Saudi Arabia, and Serbia.
Mr. Putin, one of the highest-profile guests at the summit, will deliver a speech on Wednesday in a show of support for Mr. Xi’s flagship initiative.
China has poured $1 trillion into poor nations since Mr. Xi launched the BRI a decade ago, according to an estimation by the Green Finance & Development Center, a think tank at Fudan University in Shanghai. However, by contracting with China to build railways, airports, and other public projects, Sri Lanka, Zambia, and other developing countries are saddled with heavy debts they can’t afford.
The forum also takes place against the backdrop of s downturn in the world’s second-largest economy.
Yeh Yao-Yuan, who teaches international relations at the University of St Thomas in Houston, doubted whether the Chinese regime could continue such a large-scale lending practice amid economic woe, combined with an ongoing trade war with the United States.
“That will be a big challenge for Beijing,” Mr. Yeh told The Epoch Times.
Mr. Ye suggested the Russian leader is not unaware of Mr. Xi’s difficulties.
”But Putin must show that he stands with China,” Mr. Ye said.
Mr. Xi and Mr. Putin declared a partnership that had “no limits” during his last trip to China for the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022. The two leaders issued a lengthy joint document in which Russia endorsed the regime’s territorial claims on self-ruled Taiwan, and Beijing backed Russia in opposing the further enlargement of NATO, a key justification for the invasion.
By Dorothy Li
