Putin and Xi to meet in Uzbekistan next week, official says

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping program to conscionable adjacent week successful Uzbekistan, a Russian authoritative said Wednesday, announcing a acme that could awesome different measurement successful warming ties betwixt 2 powers that are progressively facing disconnected against the West.

The gathering astatine the Shanghai Cooperation Organization — a political, economical and information forum that China and Russia predominate — comes astatine delicate times for some leaders.

Putin is dealing with the economical and governmental fallout of his war successful Ukraine that has near Russia much isolated. Xi, meanwhile, is besides facing a slowing system arsenic he seeks a 3rd five-year term as Communist Party leader. While he’s expected to unafraid it, that would correspond a interruption with precedent. Both person seen their countries’ relations with the West deteriorate.

Russian Ambassador to China Andrei Denisov told reporters that the 2 would conscionable astatine the organization’s acme successful the Uzbek metropolis of Samarkand connected Sept. 15-16. “We are actively preparing for it,” Denisov was quoted by Russia’s authorities quality bureau Tass arsenic saying.

The sojourn to Uzbekistan, if it goes ahead, would beryllium portion of Xi’s archetypal overseas travel successful 2½ years. Xi has lone near mainland China erstwhile — to marque a one-day sojourn to the semi-autonomous metropolis of Hong Kong — since the commencement of the COVID-19 outbreak successful precocious 2019.

When asked astir the trip, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told a regular briefing Wednesday: “On your question, I person thing to offer.”

Moscow and Beijing person progressively aligned their overseas policies to reason wide antiauthoritarian forces successful Asia, Europe and beyond, making a basal for authoritarian regularisation with choky borders and small respect for escaped speech, number rights oregon absorption politics.

The Russian subject held sweeping subject drills that ended Wednesday successful the country’s eastbound that progressive forces from China, different amusement of progressively adjacent ties betwixt the two.

Each person whitethorn besides beryllium hoping to bolster his lasting astatine location with the meeting. For Putin, it’s an accidental to amusement that helium inactive has almighty allies. For Xi, it could beryllium a accidental to beryllium seen arsenic lasting up to Western absorption to the Ukraine warfare and burnish his nationalist credentials astatine a clip erstwhile relations with the U.S. person grown progressively tense implicit trade, technology, quality rights issues and its threats to onslaught Taiwan.

Coming conscionable up of China’s enactment congress, the overseas visits would besides amusement Xi arsenic assured of his position.

Putin and Xi past met successful Beijing successful February, weeks earlier the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine. The 2 presidents oversaw the signing of an statement pledging that relations betwixt the sides would person “no limits.” It remains unclear whether Xi knew astatine the clip of Russia’s plans to invade Ukraine.

While offering its tacit enactment for Russia’s run there, China has sought to look neutral and debar imaginable repercussions from supporting the Russian system amid planetary sanctions.

Even though Moscow and Beijing successful the past rejected the anticipation of forging a subject alliance, Putin has said that specified a imaginable can’t beryllium ruled out. He besides has noted that Russia has been sharing highly delicate subject technologies with China that helped importantly bolster its defence capability.