President Xi Jinping hailed China and Russia's "unyielding" ties in talks with Vladimir Putin on Wednesday (May 20), as the pair met to underscore their alliance days after Donald Trump's visit to the Asian superpower economy.
After the US president was received with pomp last week but left without major breakthroughs, including on help with reopening the Strait of Hormuz, Putin's visit will be scrutinised for tangible takeaways.
Putin is however weakened by years of Russia's war on Ukraine, as sanctions by Western powers put the squeeze on energy revenues and increased Moscow's dependence on China, the main buyer of Russian oil.
The US war on Iran has however hampered crude and gas flows, giving an opportunity to Putin to offer Russian energy sources as an alternative.
Analysts believe that Putin could use the visit to push for progress on the major "Power of Siberia 2" natural gas pipeline from Russia to China through Mongolia - a land alternative to crude imported by sea from the Middle East.
Opening talks in Beijing's opulent Great Hall of the People, Putin and Xi were quick to laud their countries' special ties as they extended their treaty of "friendly cooperation".
Beijing and Moscow have "continuously deepened our political mutual trust and strategic coordination with a resilience that remains unyielding", Xi told the Russian leader, according to Chinese state media.
Putin, meanwhile, told Xi relations had reached and "unprecedentedly high level" despite "unfavourable external factors", without naming any third country, video from Russian media showed.
Xi warned of "unilateral and hegemonic countercurrents running rampant", in a veiled swipe at the United States.
“OLD FRIEND”
Xi has played host to a series of world leaders as an increasingly unpredictable United States under Trump pushed many to shore up alliances with Beijing, and the war in Iran has further accelerated the trend.
Russia-China ties have deepened since Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, with Putin visiting Beijing every year since as his country is shunned by Western powers.
Putin's visit promises to be less opulent than Trump's, emphasising that "the Xi-Putin relationship does not require that kind of performative reassurance", said Patricia Kim from the Brookings Institution in Washington.
Xi welcomed Putin with open arms as an "old friend" when he last visited Beijing in September 2025 - language the Chinese leader did not extend to Trump last week.
Both Putin and Xi view ties as "structurally stronger and more stable" than those between China and the United States, she told AFP.
Beijing has regularly called for talks to end the war in Ukraine but has never condemned Russia for sending in troops, presenting itself instead as a neutral party.
But with Russia reliant on sales to China to sustain its war effort, "Putin does not want to lose that support", Asia Society's Lyle Morris told AFP.
MIDDLE EAST PRIORITIES
When it comes to the US-Israeli war on Iran, though, China and Russia may have different priorities.
Russia has sought to capitalise on the energy crisis and rocketing oil prices spurred by the closure of the Hormuz strait.
Russia's top diplomat Sergei Lavrov had said after meeting Xi in April that Russia could "compensate" for China's energy shortages as the Middle East war hits global supplies.
China, however, wants the Middle East conflict concluded as soon as possible.
Xi underlined in talks with Putin that further hostilities in the Middle East is "inadvisable" as he said a "comprehensive ceasefire is of utmost urgency".
"(China) relies on the freedom of the world's major waterways to sustain its economic activities, and would prefer that the standoff in the Strait of Hormuz end sooner rather than later," James Char of Singapore's Nanyang Technological University told AFP.
Source: AFP
– Agencies
