Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping for a two\u002Dday summit in Moscow this week. Here’s a look at the key outcomes.
Bottom line: The agreed summit language suits Putin’s purposes, enabling him to continue fighting while saying he is open to talk peace.The summit produced 14 agreements on topics from soybeans to atomic energy, but it did not yield the big prize Russia wants: a deal on a new gas pipeline, Power of Siberia 2, to pump an extra 50 billion cubic meters of Russian gas annually to China via Mongolia.
Bottom line: Russia is still waiting on a deal and China has powerful leverage to secure advantageous price terms.The fact of Xi’s visit was a timely boost for Putin, three days after the International Criminal Court accused him of war crimes in Ukraine. It enabled him to show that despite Western attempts to isolate him, he has the backing of a powerful friend who shares his opposition to the idea of a U.S.-dominated “unipolar world.
In other respects, however, the visit showed the increasingly lopsided nature of the relationship and the gains accruing to Beijing, which has already saved billions of dollars on discounted oil and coal from Russia since the start of the war. Putin said Chinese companies would be first in line to replace Western companies that have quit Russia. He also said Russia backed the increasing use of China’s yuan in its own trade with Asia, Africa and Latin America.
Analysts said Xi’s promotion of Beijing’s peace proposals on Ukraine fits China’s narrative of itself as a constructive, responsible global power: it wants to portray itself as impartial and deflect criticism that it is siding with an aggressor against a sovereign country.
Bottom line: China seeks to position itself as a mediator in the Ukraine crisis while sealing useful deals with Russia at a time when it is in a strong bargaining position vis-a-vis Moscow.
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