Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to meet this week with Chinese leaders in Beijing on a visit that underscores China’s economic and diplomatic support for Moscow during its war in Ukraine.
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#VladimirPutin #XiJinping #PutinChinaVisit #PutinMeetsXiJinping #RussiaChinaRelations #IsraelPalestineWar #US
~PR.152~ED.194~GR.122~HT.96~
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NewsTranscript
00:00 Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to meet this week with Chinese leaders in
00:05 Beijing on a visit that underscores China's economic and diplomatic support for Moscow
00:11 during its war in Ukraine.
00:14 The occasion of Putin's likely trip to Beijing is the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road
00:19 Initiative, an ambitious Chinese project to expand global trade routes with other nations
00:24 and extend transport and infrastructure links.
00:29 To mark this event, China's President Xi Jinping will host representatives from some
00:34 130 countries in Beijing on October 17 and 18.
00:38 Putin is likely to be the star guest.
00:41 According to Russian sources, in September, Putin accepted Xi's invitation, although
00:46 Beijing has refused to confirm this.
00:49 The two countries have forged an informal alliance against the United States and other
00:54 democratic nations that is now complicated by the Israel-Hamas war.
00:58 China has sought to balance its ties with Israel with its economic relations with Iran
01:02 and Syria, which are strongly backed by Russia.
01:05 Putin's visit is also a show of support for Chinese leader Xi Jinping's signature
01:09 Belt and Road drive to build infrastructure and expand China's overseas influence.
01:16 The two presidents would undoubtedly have lots to discuss.
01:19 Since they announced their no-limits partnership in February 2022, just before Russia's full-scale
01:24 invasion of Ukraine, the world has dramatically changed and keeps changing.
01:29 Instability has gripped the South Caucasus and the Middle East, both areas where Russia
01:34 and China have interests at stake.
01:37 Yet, their no-limits partnership has become a much more one-sided affair.
01:42 Where Moscow and Beijing may once have coordinated their approaches, it is now likely that Russia
01:47 aligns its policies to suit Chinese interests.
01:50 The Ukraine war has weakened Russia and diminished its influence, at least for now, not only
01:55 in the Middle East and the South Caucasus, but also in Central Asia.
01:59 This has allowed China to become the dominant power there and cement its ties with the region.
02:05 Russia keeps emphasizing alignment with China, not least because it has few other options
02:10 except international pariah states such as North Korea and Iran.
02:14 Western sanctions against Russia in response to Moscow's war against Ukraine have severely
02:18 reduced trade along the new Eurasian land bridge, once a major transport corridor for
02:23 Chinese exports to European markets.
02:25 While the fact that Putin received an invitation from Xi to come to Beijing is important, it
02:31 is also noteworthy that this is not a purely bilateral affair.
02:35 In contrast to Xi's visit to Moscow in March 2023, Putin's trip will at best offer the
02:40 Russian president an opportunity for talks with Xi in the margins of a summit designed
02:45 to celebrate the Belt and Road Initiative, a project closely associated with Xi personally.
02:52 Also China has and pursues other options in its foreign relations.
02:55 There is still a possibility of a meeting between US President Joe Biden and Xi at the
02:59 APEC summit in San Francisco in November, and the EU's foreign policy chief, Joseph
03:03 Borrell, visited China possibly to prepare for an EU-China summit later this year.
03:09 None of this implies that Xi is about to drop Putin as an ally.
03:12 The key question is how Xi will balance his support for Putin with his need to stabilize
03:16 relations with the US.
03:18 If Xi were to pull this off, it would also cement China's role in a future Euro-Atlantic
03:23 and Euro-Asian security border.
03:32 [BLANK_AUDIO]