Putin praised “close communication” with Beijing, telling Xi he and his delegation were “pleased to meet once again with our Chinese friends,” and describing Russia-China relations as at an “unprecedentedly high level.”
Xi said the relationship had “withstood the test of international changes” and that China was ready to work with Russia to promote a “more just and reasonable global governance system.”
Their meeting followed a weekend Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit near Beijing, where Xi urged members to “oppose Cold War thinking, bloc confrontation and bullying behavior.”
Putin said the gathering, attended by leaders from India, Iran and Pakistan, laid groundwork to replace “outdated Eurocentric and Euro-Atlantic models.”
Both leaders sharpened their criticism of the West. Xi condemned “bullying” by unnamed countries, while Putin defended Russia’s offensive in Ukraine and blamed Western governments for triggering the conflict.
Xi will host China’s largest-ever military parade on Wednesday to mark the 80th anniversary of Japan’s surrender at the end of World War Two. The leaders met Tuesday in the Great Hall of the People, Chinese state television reported. Xi visited Moscow in May for Russia’s victory commemorations.
North Korea’s Kim Jong-un is due to attend Wednesday’s parade in a landmark visit after crossing into China by train on Tuesday. It will be his first multilateral international meeting and the first time in decades a North Korean leader joins a Chinese military parade; Kim’s grandfather Kim Il-sung last did so in 1959.
Most Western leaders are expected to skip the parade amid opposition to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has led to sanctions on Moscow. Beijing has not criticized the war.
The United States and its allies accuse China of aiding Russia through dual-use supplies and purchases of Russian oil, allegations Beijing denies. Kim has supplied both weapons and troops to Russia’s invasion, according to the source text.
Xi has sought to project China as a stable trading partner as U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs roil global commerce. While a deal with Putin to end the war in Ukraine remains elusive for Trump, Xi’s welcome for the Russian leader underscores the two countries’ oft-touted “friendship with no limits.”
(jh)
Source: BBC, CNN, Reuters