Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Beijing on Tuesday for a two-day visit during which he will hold talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Ada Derana reported, citing wires. Putin was welcomed by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi before heading to the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse.
The trip comes a week after US President Donald Trump paid a state visit to China to meet Xi, and marks the first time China has hosted leaders of Russia and the US in the same month outside a multilateral setting. With Putin’s visit, China will have hosted all four other leaders of the permanent members of the UN Security Council within months of each other; French President Emmanuel Macron visited in December and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer visited in January.
Topics on the agenda include bilateral relations, the US-Iran war and energy. Alongside their delegations, Putin and Xi will discuss hydrocarbons, gas supplies and the proposed Power of Siberia 2 pipeline, the Kremlin said. The two leaders are also expected to sign a joint statement after the talks, with Putin later meeting Chinese Premier Li Qiang on trade and economic cooperation. Ahead of the trip, Putin said relations between Moscow and Beijing had reached an “unprecedented level,” noting bilateral trade exceeded US$ 200 billion and that settlements were now conducted “almost entirely in rubles and yuan.”
The trip coincides with the 25th anniversary of the Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation between the two countries, signed in 2001 by then-Chinese President Jiang Zemin and Putin. The two leaders will also participate in the opening ceremony of the Russia-China Years of Education 2026-2027. The visit pairs with earlier Xi-Lavrov consultations on China-Russia ties, the Iran war and energy and follows the pattern of Trump-Xi temple-of-heaven summit earlier in May.
Source: Ada Derana.
