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Shkruar nga PamfletiChina's deep relationship with Russia remains a constant cause of concern in the West, especially since Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine.
Vladimir Putin's visit to China comes just days after Donald Trump left Beijing, as relations between China and Russia continue to deepen amid global tensions.
Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin exchanged "congratulatory messages" on Sunday ahead of the Russian president's visit to Beijing this week, just four days after Donald Trump left China following a high-profile political summit.
Xi, China's leader, said bilateral cooperation between Russia and China has "continuously deepened and strengthened," as this year marks the 30th anniversary of the strategic partnership between the two countries, according to Chinese state media.
Putin's visit to Beijing is scheduled to take place on Tuesday and Wednesday.
An article published on Monday in the Chinese state-run newspaper Global Times said the visits by the US and Russian presidents show that Beijing is "rapidly becoming the main center of global diplomacy."
"The back-to-back visits have attracted great attention, with analysts pointing out that it is extremely rare in the post-Cold War era for a country to host the leaders of the US and Russia within the same week," the Global Times wrote.
The deepening relations between China and Russia have caused concern in the West, especially since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. According to Western diplomats and analysts, China's economic and diplomatic support for Russia has helped to perpetuate the conflict.
The two leaders have met more than 40 times, far more than the meetings Xi has held with Western leaders.
Bilateral trade between China and Russia has reached record levels since 2022, with China buying more than a quarter of Russian exports. China's large purchases of Russian crude oil have provided Moscow with hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue to finance the war in Ukraine.
According to data collected by the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air, Beijing has purchased over $367 billion worth of fossil fuels from Russia since the start of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
These purchases have supported China's energy security, which has become especially important after the crisis in the Middle East halted oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz.
Neither the war in Ukraine nor the China-Russia relationship appeared to feature prominently in the talks between Trump and Xi last week. The Chinese statement for the main bilateral meeting briefly mentioned “the crisis in Ukraine,” while the American statement made no mention of the issue at all.
Instead, US-China talks appear to have focused on trade, Taiwan and the war in the Middle East, with Trump stating that China agreed with him on the importance of reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
Xi also pressured Trump on the Taiwan issue, warning him of the risk of conflict if the issue is not managed properly.
Trump left Beijing stating that he had not yet decided whether to approve a multi-billion dollar deal to supply Taiwan with arms.
Stopping this sale would constitute a major victory for Beijing, which aims to take control of the self-governing island, something most Taiwanese oppose.
Joseph Webster, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, wrote in an analysis that "Taiwan may be the subtext of the Xi-Putin meeting."
According to him, Beijing may seek to sign more fossil energy deals with Moscow to guarantee energy supplies in the event of a future conflict.
Expanding the capacity of Russian oil pipelines to China “would significantly strengthen Beijing’s energy security in the event of a crisis over Taiwan,” Webster wrote.
Russia has been pressuring China to move forward with the "Power of Siberia 2" gas pipeline project, which would add 50 billion cubic meters of capacity to the existing gas network between the two countries.
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