Putin to visit China as Beijing plays key role in supporting Russia

Vladimir Putin will visit China on Thursday and Friday, marking the Russian leader’s first foreign trip since he was sworn in for a fifth presidential term last week.

The state visit to Beijing, the 43rd time Putin will have met President Xi Jinping, comes as China is playing a growing role in supporting the Russian economy following Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Beijing has thrown Moscow a vital economic lifeline by helping temper the damage from western sanctions over the war that have cut Russia out of international markets and supply chains.

The US is increasingly concerned about China’s role in helping Russia gear up its war machine and has warned Beijing that Chinese companies could face secondary sanctions for supplying Moscow’s defence industry.

Putin underscored the importance of the arms sector, which officials say is working around the clock in multiple shifts to raise production, by appointing technocrat Andrei Belousov as defence minister on Sunday and cracking down on corruption within the army.

The Kremlin said Putin and Xi would “discuss the whole range of issues in detail in their all-encompassing partnership and strategic relationship, define the key directions of the further development of Russia-China practical partnership, and hold a thorough exchange of views on the most pressing international and regional problems”.

The two leaders will sign a joint statement after their talks and take part in an event to celebrate the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and the Soviet Union, the Kremlin added.

Putin will also meet Chinese premier Li Qiang to discuss trade and humanitarian issues, the Kremlin said, and visit the north-eastern city of Harbin to open two bilateral trade events.

The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Xi and Putin would discuss “co-operation in various fields and international and regional issues of mutual concern”. 

The China-Russia exhibition in Harbin will host more than 1,400 enterprises, including Chinese carmaker FAW’s Hongqi brand, oil producer Sinopec, rail company CRRC, and machine tool providers and an ATV manufacturer whose products are being used on Ukrainian battlefields by the Russian army. More than 200 projects are expected to be signed during the event, according to the Chinese Ministry of Commerce.

China’s trade volumes with Russia soared 26 per cent last year to a record $240bn, but have come under pressure since the US stepped up its attempts to punish companies involved in supporting Putin’s war effort.

Banks have shied away from processing a range of transactions with Russian counterparties, prompting China’s trade with Russia to fall nearly 16 per cent year on year in March and 13.5 per cent in April.

Russia is also hoping China will replace Europe as the major market for its gas exports, which have cratered since the Ukraine war and created staggering losses at Gazprom, the gas export monopoly.

But Moscow and Beijing have yet to strike a deal on Power of Siberia 2, a long-mooted pipeline that would supply China with gas from fields previously serving European markets.