Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is to visit Russia next month for a summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) said on Thursday, a move that comes as Moscow and Beijing seek to counter the West’s global influence.
Xi’s visit to Russia would be his second since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. China claims to take a neutral position in the conflict, but it has backed the Kremlin’s contentions that Russia’s action was provoked by the West, and it continues to supply key components needed by Moscow for weapons production.
Wang Yi met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg on Thursday and the two hailed ties between the two countries.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Wang said that Xi “happily accepted” Putin’s invite to attend the BRICS summit in the Russian city of Kazan next month.
Putin, in turn, announced that the two would also sit down for a bilateral meeting in Kazan and discuss various aspects of the Russia-China relations, which “are developing quite successfully” and “in all directions.”
Xi last visited Russia in March last year and Putin reciprocated with his own trip to China in October that year.
The two leaders have since also met in Beijing in May, where Putin took the first foreign trip of his fifth presidential term, and in Kazakhstan in July.
The BRICS alliance was founded in 2006 by Brazil, Russia, India and China, with South Africa joining in 2010.
It has recently undergone an expansion and now includes Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates.
Saudi Arabia has said it is considering joining, and Azerbaijan and Malaysia have formally applied.
BRICS has a stated aim to amplify the voice of major emerging economies to counterbalance the Western-led global order.
Its founding members have called for a fairer world order and the reform of international institutions like the UN, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
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