Moscow has actively sought to boost economic cooperation with Beijing after sweeping Western sanctions.
Russia and China conducted joint naval drills earlier this month, which Russia’s army chief described as a response to “aggressive” U.S. military posturing in the Asia-Pacific region. And last week, Putin oversaw the inauguration of a gas field in Siberia that aims to boost Russia’s energy exports to China as the West has worked to cut its energy dependence on Moscow.
Xi said that the leaders were regularly “in close, strategic contact” and noted that bilateral relations between Moscow and Beijing had expanded significantly this year.
“In the face of a difficult and far from unambiguous international situation, we are ready to build up strategic cooperation with Russia, provide each other with development opportunities, and be global partners for the benefit of the peoples of our countries and in the interests of stability throughout the world,” Xi said.
“Military and military-technical cooperation, which contributes to ensuring the security of our countries and maintaining stability in key regions, occupies a special place in Russian-Chinese cooperation,” he continued. “We aim to strengthen cooperation between the armed forces of Russia and China.”
In recent years, Beijing and Moscow have found common ground over a shared frustration with the global dominance of the United States. Both Putin and Xi see Washington as a hindrance to their geopolitical and economic ambitions and have sought to forge a “no-limits” relationship that acts as a counterweight to American international primacy.
Putin highlighted Russia and China’s expanding trade partnerships, claiming that this year Russia had become one of the leading oil exporters to China despite what he called “the unfavorable external situation, illegitimate restrictions and direct blackmail by some Western countries.” He claimed that Sino-Russian trade is set to increase by 25 percent.
Putin invited Xi to pay a state visit to Russia in spring 2023, saying that the meeting would become the “main political event of the year.”
On Thursday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that after opening remarks, the leaders would meet privately to discuss “the most acute regional problems.”
Moscow and Beijing are also mutually beneficial trading partners, with China importing Russian oil and gas in exchange for high-tech Chinese goods. In 2019, Xi described Putin as his “best friend,” and since Russia’s invasion, the Chinese leader has swerved efforts to bring him in as a mediator between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Since the February invasion, China has consistently blamed NATO for provoking the war and has supported Putin’s security concerns in Europe, which Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi described before the invasion as “legitimate.”
