Chinese President Xi Jinping will make a state visit to Moscow next week, where he will hold talks with strategic ally Vladimir Putin just over a year into Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Xi will be in Russia from Monday to Wednesday, Beijing and the Kremlin’s foreign ministers said on Friday.
China’s foreign ministry called Xi’s visit a “visit for peace” aimed at “implementing true multilateralism…
The two leaders will exchange views on bilateral relations and major international and regional issues, ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a regular press conference.
“Currently, changes unseen in the century are rapidly developing, and the world has experienced a new turmoil,” he said.
“China will uphold an objective and fair position on the Ukraine crisis and play a constructive role in promoting peace talks.”
The Kremlin said the two presidents would talk about “strategic cooperation” and “discuss comprehensive partnership and strategic cooperation between Russia and China”.
Xi’s visit comes just over a year after Russia invaded Ukraine, starting a war that isolated Moscow on the international stage.
China, Russia’s main ally, has sought to position itself as a neutral party in the conflict, urging Moscow and Kyiv to resolve it through negotiations.
Also read: Xi Jinping secures third term as China’s leader
In a 12-point position paper on the war last month, China called for dialogue and respect for the territorial sovereignty of all countries.
But Western leaders have repeatedly criticized Beijing for failing to condemn the invasion, accusing it of giving Moscow diplomatic cover for the war.
The United States has accused China of considering arms shipments to support Russia’s war effort – a claim Beijing has vehemently denied.
– Xi China who made peace? –
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in February he planned to meet Xi after Beijing called for talks.
China’s foreign ministry did not confirm Friday whether it plans to.
However, the foreign ministers of the two countries held a phone call on Thursday, the first since China’s Qin Gang took office.
Qin urged Kyiv and Moscow to restart peace talks “as soon as possible”, adding that “China is concerned that the crisis may escalate and get out of control”, according to an official readout.
Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba said the call included discussions on “the importance of the principle of territorial integrity”, without elaborating.
Once socialist allies with fraught relations, in recent years China and Russia have expanded their cooperation in the economic, military and political sectors as part of what they call an “unrestricted” partnership.
Both sides have often emphasized the close relationship between Putin and Xi, who began his third five-year term as president this month in a break with long-standing precedent.
Xi last visited Russia in 2019, when Putin attended the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Beijing last year and the two leaders also met at a regional security meeting in Uzbekistan in September.
Also read: China’s assertive foreign policy under President Xi
Xi, 69, also helped broker a China-brokered deal to restore ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran last week.
“Whether (China) actually pursues efforts to make peace in a meaningful way will depend on what is proposed during the meeting with leaders from Ukraine and Russia,” said Ja-Ian Chong, an associate professor at the National University. from Singapore.
“The previous peace plan was more about general principles than actionable proposals,” a Chinese foreign policy specialist told AFP.
– fighter jets –
The announcement of Xi’s visit came after Poland said Thursday it would send an initial batch of four MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine, in what would be the first shipment from a NATO member.
Slovakia followed on Friday with an offer of 13 MiG-29 fighter jets to Kyiv, which has long sought fighter jets from its Western allies before the escalation of hostilities in the spring.
“We will hand over 13 MiG-29 jets to Ukraine,” Prime Minister Eduard Heger told reporters, adding that Bratislava would also deliver the Kub air defense system to Ukraine.
The batch will include 10 operational jets and three additional ones that have not been used since 2008.
Slovak Defense Minister Jaroslav Nad said the transfer would take “several weeks”.
“Our steps have been fully coordinated with Poland and Ukraine,” Heger said, adding that his government “stands on the right side of history”.
Ukraine is particularly looking for modern US-made F-16s.
Also read: China’s economy is on the rise, but Xi’s new powers are troubling investors
The Kremlin said on Friday that fighter jets provided to Ukraine by Poland and Slovakia would be destroyed, and reiterated that the delivery of Western weapons to Kyiv would not change Russia’s military goals.
“The supply of this military equipment – as we have repeatedly said – will not change the results of special military operations … Of course, all this equipment will be destroyed,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, using the official term for Moscow’s military . intervene.