China’s leader Xi Jinping met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Beijing on the opening day of the Winter Olympics in a show of solidarity amid mounting pressures from the West.
Friday’s meeting also marks Xi’s first in-person meeting with his counterpart for nearly two years. The leader of the Chinese Communist Party hasn’t left the country since the onset of the pandemic in January 2020.
Facing U.S.-led efforts to pressure the Chinese regime over its human rights abuses, and Russia over its military buildup near the Ukraine border, the two leaders proclaimed a “no limits” friendship during the summit on Feb. 4. They also signed gas and oil contracts worth an estimated $117.5 billion.
Displaying a united front, the two leaders issued an over 5,000 word statement after the meeting, highlighting their opposition to what they called “interference in the internal affairs” by “other States,” in a veiled reference to Washington and its allies.
According to the English version joint statement released by the Kremlin, Moscow “reaffirms its support” for Beijing’s stance on Taiwan—the Chinese regime views the self-ruled island as its own territory to be taken by force if necessary.
The Chinese regime backed Russia’s opposition for the enlargement of NATO, issues at the heart of Moscow’s confrontation with the United States and its allies over Ukraine, according to the readout.
The two sides voiced their opposition to AUKUS, a newly-formed security alliance between the United States, the UK, and Australia, which experts have viewed as a game-changer for countering the Chinese regime’s aggression in the Indo-Pacific.
The summit came hours before Xi opened the Winter Olympics, a global event that has been overshadowed by a spate of diplomatic boycotts amid rising scrutiny of the communist regime’s suppression in Xinjiang, Tibet, and Hong Kong.
By Dorothy Li
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