HONG KONG — Greeting his host as a “dear friend,” Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that relations between Russia and China had “reached their highest level in history” as they seek to challenge U.S. global dominance.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping welcomed Putin and other world leaders this week for a summit of the 10-member Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) as well as a massive military parade in Beijing on Wednesday commemorating the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.
Both events are meant to promote Xi’s vision of a new global order as President Donald Trump’s sweeping trade war, steep cuts to foreign aid and withdrawal from international institutions raise questions about the U.S. role on the world stage.
Also arriving Tuesday in Beijing was North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who is set to attend the parade alongside the president of Iran as Xi displays unity with a host of countries isolated by the West over the Kremlin’s war against Ukraine.
The meeting came a day after both leaders held separate talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the SCO summit in the northern Chinese port city of Tianjin. Modi was seen joining hands with Putin and Xi in what was viewed as a message to Trump, who has alienated key Asian security partner India with steep 50% tariffs as punishment for buying Russian oil.
Though India has been improving ties with China, which Modi was visiting for the first time in seven years, the two countries still have major differences, and he is not attending the parade.
China and Russia have grown closer in recent years, with Beijing striving to assert its neutrality in the war but providing Russia with a diplomatic and economic lifeline.
Xi and Putin are also close, having met more than 40 times over the past decade.
A Chinese readout of their meeting at the Great Hall of the People said the two leaders had “in-depth exchanges on international and regional issues of common concern” but did not specify what those issues were.
“Both China and Russia emphasize sovereign equality, the rule of law in international relations, and multilateralism,” the readout said, adding that they would continue to strengthen coordination with multilateral organizations such as the United Nations and the SCO.
Their talks were followed by another meeting over tea and a banquet.
The two leaders also highlighted their history during World War II.
Though the Soviet Union remained neutral for most of the war in Asia, where China endured a 14-year invasion and occupation by Japan, Moscow declared war on Tokyo in the final weeks of the war and hastened its surrender by sending troops across the border into China’s Japanese-occupied Manchuria region.
“We were together then, we remain together now,” Putin said, according to a Kremlin readout.
Xi has sought to amplify the role played by China’s ruling Communist Party, an effort likely aimed as much at a domestic audience as at his rivals across the world.
Also Tuesday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said it was expanding its visa-free policy to include Russian passport holders starting Sept. 15.
“We welcome our Russian friends to come to China more often,” ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said.
Earlier, Xi and Putin held a trilateral meeting with Khurelsukh Ukhnaa, the president of Mongolia, a landlocked country that sits between China and Russia. According to a Chinese readout, Putin said that Russia, China and Mongolia “are friendly neighbors with a long tradition of cooperation.”
Putin made an official visit to Mongolia last year even though it is a member of the International Criminal Court, which has issued a warrant for Putin’s arrest over alleged war crimes tied to the Ukraine invasion.
There has also been speculation that Xi and Putin might hold their first-ever trilateral meeting with Kim, who arrived in his armored train on Tuesday in a rare departure from his isolated, nuclear-armed state.
Kim will attend the military parade, which is his first multilateral event since he came to power upon his father’s death in 2011. He is expected to appear with Xi and Putin on Wednesday as thousands of troops march below them through Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.
Experts say the North Korean leader, whose relations with neighbor and longtime ally China soured over his material support for Putin’s war against Ukraine, is likely seeking to repair relations with Beijing in preparation for the possible end of the war, during which
“Standing side by side with Xi Jinping and Putin on Tiananmen Gate, he will reproduce the triangular solidarity structure of the Cold War era,” South Korea’s National Intelligence Service told South Korean lawmakers on Tuesday.
The agency said more than 2,000 North Korean troops were thought to have been killed fighting alongside Russia, more than double the number previously reported.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry said it had no information to provide on whether Kim, Putin and Xi would hold a trilateral meeting.
