China’s leader Xi in Moscow for meeting with Putin
Chinese leader Xi Jinping kicked off his three-day visit to Moscow on Monday by showering Russian President Vladimir Putin with praise — insisting the strong-armed dictator had “significantly improved” Russia under his “firm leadership.”
Over dinner Monday, the two leaders discussed how they “share similar goals” and worked to deepen their “no limits” partnership that they struck up just weeks before the war.
“It is true that both of our countries share the same, or some similar goals. We have exerted efforts for the prosperity of our respective countries…we can cooperate and work together to achieve our goals,” Xi said, according to CNN.
“I’m very happy that I can visit Russia again, at your invitation. And that Russia is the first country that I visited after my re-election as China’s President,” Xi told Putin before backing his Russian counterpart for re-election.
“I know that the Russia presidential election is next year. Russia’s development has significantly improved under your firm leadership. I believe that the Russian people will continue to strongly support you,” he said.
Putin told Xi that China has made a “colossal leap forward” in recent years, which has caused other countries across the globe to become envious.
“Symbolically, we met here 10 years during your first visit as an elected representative of China. In this time, we made progress in relations. We have many common interests and goals.”
Xi’s Moscow visit has been viewed as a strong political boost for Putin, as Russia has found itself isolated from much of the world. China, meanwhile, has not yet condemned Russia’s unprovoked attack on Ukraine, or even referred to the conflict as an “invasion.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken Xi’s visit serves as “diplomatic cover” for Russia’s war crimes.
“That President Xi is traveling to Russia days after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for President Putin suggests that China feels no responsibility to hold the Kremlin accountable for the atrocities committed in Ukraine,” Blinken said during a news conference at the State Department on the release of the 2022 Human Rights Report.
“And instead of even condemning them, it would rather provide diplomatic cover for Russia to continue to commit those very crimes.”
Ahead of the closely-watched visit, the two leaders praised their alliance in Russian and Chinese media.
Xi said “both countries … see our relationship as high priority in our diplomacy,” CNBC reported, while Putin said he considered his Chinese counterpart a “good old friend” with whom he shares the “warmest relations.”
The Kremlin has welcomed China’s peace plan for Ukraine and said the two leaders would discuss it over dinner Monday.
Beijing has called for a cease-fire, but Washington strongly rejected the idea as the effective ratification of the Kremlin’s battlefield gains.
Xi’s visit comes after the International Criminal Court on Friday issued a warrant for Putin’s arrest for alleged war crimes. The Kremlin ignored the authority of the ICC and called the move “legally null and void.”
On Sunday, the Russian President was supposedly meeting grateful Ukrainian citizens in the decimated city of Mariupol when he was heckled by a woman who shouted: “It’s all lies, it’s all just for show.”
The yelling prompted Putin’s security to frantically look for the source of what disrupted the carefully orchestrated visit.
Putin’s trip to Mariupol was his first to a territory captured since the invasion began last year.
China’s foreign ministry on Monday called on the ICC to “respect the jurisdictional immunity” of a head of state and “avoid politicization and double standards.”
China looks to Russia as a source of oil and gas for its energy-hungry economy and as a partner in opposing what both see as American domination of global affairs.
It’s unclear how their relationship may alter especially after the West threatened to sanction China if it helps the Russian military.
With Post wires
