Xi, Putin reaffirm ‘old friend’ ties in the face of US challenges
BEIJING—Chinese leader Xi Jinping welcomed Russian President Vladimir Putin as an “old friend” as the two began a series of meetings on Tuesday at a time when their countries face both overlapping and differing challenges from the United States.
Relations between China and Russia have deepened in recent years, particularly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in early 2022.
Putin addressed Xi as “dear friend” and said that Moscow’s ties with Beijing are “at an unprecedentedly high level.”
The talks come the day after both attended a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in the nearby Chinese city of Tianjin, and the day before a grand Chinese military parade in Beijing to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.
The Soviet Union was neutral for much of the war in Asia, but provided assistance to China in earlier fighting against invading Japanese forces in the 1930s. It also declared war on Japan in the last days of World War II and sent troops over the border into Japanese-occupied northeastern China.
‘Always together’
“We were always together then, we remain together now,” Putin said.
China says it is neutral in the Ukraine war but has provided an economic lifeline to Russia by continuing trade despite western sanctions. Some of its companies have been accused of abetting the military industry.
The summit of the 10-member Shanghai Cooperation Organization brought Xi and Putin together with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who held separate talks with both leaders on the sidelines of the meeting.
US President Donald Trump’s steep tariffs on India and the tone coming from the White House have pushed New Delhi closer to China and Russia, though Modi will not attend China’s military parade.
Putin and Xi held a three-way meeting with Mongolian President Khurelsukh Ukhnaa ahead of their talks. His landlocked country of grasslands and mineral mines is sandwiched between the two giants.
Putin said in opening remarks that the three countries are good neighbors, with a shared interest in developing ties.
“Our three countries have much in common,” he said.
Mongolia
In 2024, Putin made an official visit to Mongolia, where the government ignored calls to arrest him on an International Criminal Court warrant for alleged war crimes stemming from the invasion of Ukraine.
Xi and Putin are expected to stand on Wednesday side-by-side with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un as they watch a military parade which also marks the victory over Japan in World War II.
A Japanese invasion before and during the conflict devastated China and left millions of people dead.
The ruling Communist Party is trying to amplify a feeling of pride by playing up the war anniversary with spruced-up museums, new war movies and the military parade.
The defeat of Japan has become part of China’s nation-building story, a starting point marking the end of a long period when foreign powers imposed their will on a weaker China.
Pushback to Trump
Xi, who came to power in 2012, has stepped up a drive to build a strong country that can no longer be bullied. His government pushed back against new US tariffs this year, forcing Trump to scale them down.
Harvard historian Rana Mitter, who has written extensively on China’s war experience, noticed some changes in the party’s presentation of the war over the years.
One was the playing up of the role of Soviet military pilots who helped China in the early years of the fighting, a nod to China’s deepening relationship with Russia.
Another was the increased prominence given to China’s role as a founding member of the United Nations. China is positioning itself as a defender of the global order as Trump rips up established norms on international relations.
For some neighbors, notably Taiwan and the Philippines, China has become the bully in the South China Sea.
