Setting The Table For When Putin Meets Xi
Date
10/16/2023 12:12:46 AM
(MENAFN- Asia Times) Vladimir Putin is expected to travel outside the borders of the former Soviet Union for the first time in 20 months to meet China's Xi Jinping on October 17.
The visit, if it happens, is likely to entrench a relationship in which Russia has become a useful tool in a broader Chinese strategy to consolidate its influence in Europe and the Americas.
The occasion of Putin's likely trip to Beijing is the tenth anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), an ambitious Chinese project to expand global trade routes with other nations and extend transport and infrastructure links.
To mark this event, China's president Xi will host representatives from some 130 countries in Beijing on October 17 and 18.
Putin is likely to be the star guest. According to Russian sources in September, Putin accepted Xi's invitation, although Beijing has refused to confirm this.
The two presidents would undoubtedly have lots to discuss. Since they announced their“no-limits” partnership in February 2022, just before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the world has dramatically changed and keeps changing.
The Ukraine war grinds on with no end in sight. Image: Twitter
Instability has gripped the South Caucasus and the Middle East – both areas where Russia and China have interests at stake.
Yet their no-limits partnership has become a much more one-sided affair. Where Moscow and Beijing may once have coordinated their approaches, it is now likely that Russia aligns its policies to suit Chinese interests.
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