Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Russian President Vladimir Putin set their sights on shaping a new world order as the Chinese leader left Moscow yesterday, having made no direct support for Putin’s war in Ukraine during his three-day visit.
Xi made a strong show of solidarity with Putin against the West, but he barely mentioned the Ukraine conflict and on Tuesday said that China had an “impartial position.”
There was no sign that Xi’s efforts to play the role of peacemaker had yielded results.
Photo: AP
Yet, as Xi departed, he told Putin: “Now there are changes that haven’t happened in 100 years. When we are together, we drive these changes.”
“I agree,” Putin said, to which Xi responded: “Take care of yourself dear friend, please.”
Overnight. while Xi was in Moscow, Russian forces launched a massive airstrike, firing 21 Shahed-136 drones, the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces said yesterday.
As Xi prepared to leave Moscow, air raid sirens blared across Kyiv and in Ukraine’s north and east, with reports of drone attacks, but no major destruction.
Heralded by the Kremlin as a show of support from its most powerful friend, Xi’s visit to Moscow featured carefully staged pomp and ceremony, but the spectacle was also marked by plenty of demonstrative bonhomie between the two autocrats.
Xi and Putin referred to each other as dear friends, promised economic cooperation and described their countries’ relations as the best they have ever been.
“They [the leaders] shared 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,” a statement released by China said.
Putin said on the Kremlin’s Web site: “We are working in solidarity on the formation of a more just and democratic multipolar world order, which should be based on the central role of the UN, its Security Council, international law, the purposes and principles of the UN Charter.”
In an earlier joint statement the leaders accused the West of undermining global stability and NATO of barging into the Asia-Pacific region, but asserted the close partnership between China and Russia did not constitute a “military-political alliance.”
On Ukraine, Putin praised Xi for a peace plan he proposed last month, and blamed Kyiv and the West for rejecting it. The West sees China’s peace plan as a ploy to buy Putin time to regroup his forces and solidify his grip on occupied land.
China’s 12-point plan has no specific details on how to end the bloody year-long war, which has claimed tens of thousands of lives and forced millions to flee.
The West has sought to isolate Russia through global sanctions and Putin faces an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court.
China has not supported any of the moves and the West is concerned it might help arm Russia in its conflict, which Beijing has denied.
Xi’s trip coincided with a surprise visit to Kyiv by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who on Tuesday visited Bucha, a town where Russian forces were accused of committing atrocities during their occupation last year.
“Our talks with Mr Kishida were quite productive,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his evening address.
“I also heard a very concrete willingness of Japan to work together with us to even more actively mobilise the world for international order, to protect against aggression, to protect against Russian terror,” he said.
Kishida, the last G7 leader to visit the country, had come under increasing pressure to make the trip, as Japan hosts the group’s summit in May.
Zelenskiy confirmed that he would participate in the G7 summit via videoconference.
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