Chinese President Xi Jinping today praised the Beijing-Moscow relationship, which he said is “conducive to peace”, as he welcomed Russian President Vladimir Putin, sidelined by the West after the Russian military invaded Ukraine in 2022, to Beijing.

The China-Russia relationship “is not only in the fundamental interest of the two countries and the two peoples, but is also conducive to peace,” Xi Jinping stressed, assuring that he is ready to strengthen it, according to a Chinese diplomatic press release. .

This relationship is a factor of “stability”, for his part, Vladimir Putin judged, according to Russian media. “She’s not opportunistic and she’s not targeting anyone.”

Mr Putin arrived in the Chinese capital early this morning in the hope of persuading his “dear friend” Xi Jinping to offer more support to Moscow and its war effort in Ukraine.

The two-day visit is Mr Putin’s first trip abroad since being re-elected in March and his second in just over six months.

The Asian giant is an economic lifeline for Russia, which is under punitive Western sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine.

A few hours before he left, the Russian president was expressing satisfaction with the advance of his army, which captured some more communities in the Kharkiv region (northeast).

“Without limits”

Immediately after returning from his tour of France, Serbia and Hungary, Xi Jinping defended his country’s right to maintain smooth economic ties with its neighbor. China mainly benefits from subsidized hydrocarbon imports.

The two leaders discussed in early 2022, shortly before the Russian army’s invasion of Ukrainian territory, the bilateral cooperation relationship “without borders”.

“It’s Putin’s first trip since his inauguration, so it’s meant to show that Sino-Russian relations are moving up another level,” Russian analyst Konstantin Kalashev told AFP. “Without forgetting the personal friendship of the two leaders, who is obviously sincere,” he added.

The Kremlin said this week that the two presidents are to discuss “key areas of development and Russian-Chinese cooperation” and exchange views on “international and regional affairs.”

In an interview with China’s official Xinhua news agency broadcast yesterday, Mr Putin praised China’s “sincere desire” to work towards a solution to the Ukrainian crisis.

China often calls for the territorial integrity of all countries to be respected (implying that this also applies to Ukraine), but also calls for Russia’s security concerns to be taken into account.

Red line

The West views with increasing suspicion the strengthening of the bilateral relationship.

Washington has drawn a red line with Beijing — demanding that it not directly supply weapons to Moscow’s military — and at this stage says it has no evidence to the contrary.

However, the US government often emphasizes that Chinese economic support allows Russia to boost production of missiles, drones, tanks, and so on.

Trade between China and Russia has increased dramatically since the outbreak of war in Ukraine, reaching $240 billion (€222 billion) in 2023, according to Chinese customs.

However, China’s exports to its neighbor fell in March and April after the US government threatened to sanction financial institutions that support the Russian war effort.

An executive order signed in December by US President Joe Biden provides that secondary sanctions can now be imposed on banks or businesses deemed to be helping what Washington calls the Russian war machine.

Which means that the US Treasury can exclude them from the global financial system, based on the dollar.

Careful banks

China wants to improve relations with the US and may therefore be reluctant to further strengthen its cooperation with Russia despite the latter’s expectations, analysts say.

Chinese banks have suspended or reduced transactions with clients in Russia, according to AFP sources familiar with the matter.

Banks make decisions based on the maxim “it’s better to be safe than sorry,” explained Alexander Gabuyev, director of the Carnegie Center for Russia and Eurasia. Coming to a safe conclusion about whether the transactions they make and the payments they make “are connected to the Russian military-industrial complex (…) has great difficulty for Chinese businesses, including banks.”

During Vladimir Putin’s visit, experts predicted that Moscow and Beijing were going to exploit the benefits of the bilateral relationship and sign trade deals.

The two leaders are expected to issue a joint statement and participate in an event marking the 75th anniversary of the establishment of bilateral diplomatic relations — although it was not Russia, but the Soviet Union, that had recognized the People’s Republic founded by Mao Zedong in 1949. —, according to the Kremlin.

Mr Putin is expected to meet Chinese Premier Li Chiang. Tomorrow he will travel to Harbin (northeast), where he will attend an exhibition on trade and investment.