The chief of China said that his country and his Russia were “real friends who were thick and thin” after a video call with President Vladimir V. Putin on Monday, part of a mutual affirmation point of allegiance between Beijing and Moscow as President Trump turned to the Kremlin.
The hot words attributed to Xi Jinping in the Chinese state media were clearly intended to alleviate the speculation that the Trump administration, which continued a rapid rapprochement with Russia, could succeed in leading a gap between Beijing and Moscow.
The call came on the anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine in 2022 by Russia, after three years during which China extended a lifeline in Russia by helping Mr. Putin to Weather the economic isolation of the West and difficulties on the battlefield.
Shortly before the invasion of Ukraine, Mr. Xi and Mr. Putin announced a “limitless” partnership. Since then, China has supported the Russian war machine with oil purchases and exports of double -use technologies.
Mr. XI and Mr. Putin also share ideological opposition to the West. They blame the United States for retaining its global ambitions and promoting a reshaping of the World Order to weaken the domination of Washington.
“History and reality show us that China and Russia are good neighbors who will not go away, and the real friends who have been thick and thin together, support and develop together,” said Mr. XI, quoted by the Chinese media state.
Xi said that relations between China and Russia were “affected by any third party”, in what seemed to be an oblique reference in the United States. And he said that foreign policies in the two countries were there for “long -term”.
The Kremlin published a similar cordial declaration after the appeal, describing the conversation of Mr. XI and Mr. Putin as “warm and friendly”. In a rebuff of the idea that President Trump could divide the two countries, the Kremlin added: “The leaders stressed that the Russian-Chinese foreign policy link is the most important stabilization factor in global affairs” and said that the relationship was “not subject to external influence. »»
The appeal was the second between Mr. Xi and Mr. Putin in just over a month, coming less than two weeks after Mr. Trump upset the American strategy towards Russia War in Ukraine. Trump blamed Ukraine for prompting Russia’s invasion, called President Volodymyr Zelensky from Ukraine a “dictator” and excluded kyiv from peace negotiations at an early stage.
Mr. Trump’s decision to put himself so favorably with Mr. Putin on the war has fueled speculation that Washington was aimed at dividing Russia and China, a country that many senior officials of the Trump administration consider a threat much more serious for American interests.
Some entrants of the Trump administration have suggested reducing the levels of American troops in Europe, which serve as rampart against Russia, so that Washington can focus its military efforts on the defense against China.
Trump’s special envoy in Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, told a panel earlier this month in Munich that the Trump administration hoped to “force” Mr. Putin to erase his ties with North Korea, Iran and China.
Analysts, however, expressed skepticism as to the fact that China and Russia can be pushed into what is called an “reverse Nixon”, a reference to the merger of President Nixon with Beijing in 1972 which aimed to exploit the relations of worsening between China and the Soviet Union.
Unlike 53 years, the links between China and Russia today are at a summit, with few prospects for internal political change in the two countries.
“There is a strategic and geopolitical alignment for this relationship,” said Sergey RadchenkoProfessor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies that specializes in Chinese-Russian relations. “They don’t see each other quite, but I think they both realize that they need each other.”
Mr. Radchenko said Beijing probably felt uncomfortable with Mr. Trump’s offer to court Mr. Putin, but that it was unlikely that Mr. Putin will see his interests better served by aligning more closely with the United States on China.
“The idea that Putin can be manipulated as a kind of weapon against China, I think it’s naive from the Trump administration,” he said.
The quantity of China knew on the plans of Russia approaching the invasion of Ukraine by Mr. Putin three years ago, it is not clear.
A Western intelligence report published shortly after the invasion concluded that senior Chinese officials had told senior Russian officials in early February not to invade Ukraine before the end of the Winter Olympic Games in Beijing. But intelligence did not necessarily indicate that direct conversations on an invasion had taken place between Mr. Putin and Mr. XI.
China has denied any prior knowledge of the invasion, and Beijing did not evacuate its embassy or its citizens of Ukraine in the days preceding the start of the war.
“The claims that China knew, agreed to or tacitly support this war are a pure disinformation,” the Chinese ambassador in the United States wrote, wrote in a Washington Post in a March 2022 article.
Xi should visit Moscow in May to attend the commemorations of Soviet victory against Nazi Germany during the Second World War, according to the Russian state media. Putin also invited Mr. Trump.
Monday’s call between Chinese and Russian leaders came while Kremlin tries to keep its partner countries on its side, while continuing to warming relations with the United States, a country that Mr. Putin has long shot derision as an irresponsible global superpower.
“The president last week spoke of his desire to inform a series of government partners on contacts with the Americans,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitri S. Peskov said on Monday. “In accordance with these intentions, this process began today.”
The Kremlin added in a statement that Mr. Putin had informed Mr. Xi during their appeal concerning “recent Russian-American contacts”. He also said that China had “expressed support for dialogue between Russia and the United States that started, as well as the desire to contribute to the search for a peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian conflict”.
Putin also spoke on Monday with the chief of Tajikistan, and the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sergei V. Lavrov, met President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Türkiye.
In the comments published by the Chinese state media, Xi said that he was “happy” that Russia began negotiations with “other parties” to end the “Ukrainian crisis”.
China has not yet described the invasion of Ukraine by Russia as a “war”.
Amy Chang Dog contributed research.
