In Uzbekistan, Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. The two presidents' meeting comes amid the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine. The two presidents are scheduled to meet on the margins of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization on Friday, September 16, in Samarkand.
The meeting between Xi and Putin comes after their conversations in February. Before Russia invaded Ukraine, the two presidents met during the opening ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, which Putin attended.
China, Russia at Security Summit in Uzbekistan
Xi Jinping is making his first abroad trip since the COVID-19 pandemic. Before Beijing implemented lockdowns in Wuhan, Xi Jinping's last international travel was to Myanmar in January 2020. According to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Xi Jinping will attend the 22nd Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Samarkand from September 14 to September 16, as well as visit Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
Notably, Xi Jinping's visit coincides with a new round of lockdown restrictions in China to combat the COVID-19 outbreak, as well as tensions between Taiwan and the United States following US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to the island. Per Republic World, Putin's meeting with Xi Jinping comes as the West maintains sanctions on Moscow and Ukraine's claim to have liberated its lands.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claims that Ukrainian soldiers had freed over 6000 square kilometers of land since early September. It is worth noting that China has not condemned Russia during Moscow's attack on Ukraine and has maintained trading relations with Moscow. Beijing's imports of Russian oil and gas soared by over 60% year on year in August, totaling $11.2 billion.
Gazprom permitted China's state-owned China National Corp. to make payments in Russian rubles or Chinese yuan rather than dollars earlier this month, as per Republic World. Before the conflict, China was Russia's greatest single commercial partner, accounting for 16% of total foreign trade. However, the world's second-largest economy has taken on far more significance for Russia, which has entered a recession as a result of Western sanctions.
In May, Russia surpassed Saudi Arabia as China's main oil supplier. According to the most recent Chinese customs data, Moscow has held the top spot for three months in a row. In July, China's coal imports from Russia reached a five-year high of 7.42 million metric tons.
Last week, Russia's Gazprom said that it will begin charging China in yuan and ruble for natural gas deliveries, while Russia's VTB bank announced the beginning of yuan money transfers to China. It is a boost to Beijing's goal to make the yuan a worldwide currency, according to CNN.
Will Russia, China Talk About Defeating US Dominance?
According to the Kremlin, Xi and Putin will meet in person for the first time since Russia invaded Ukraine on Thursday, indicating that Beijing regards the connection as critical to opposing the US. It will take place on the margins of a Chinese-founded security summit in Uzbekistan, which will bring together countries ranging from India to Iran to speed the establishment of a multipolar world.
Before that, Xi will make a detour in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, where he presented his hallmark Belt-and-Road trade-and-infrastructure initiative nine years ago. That foreign-policy endeavor has subsequently become a focal point for the United States and its Group of Seven partners, who announced plans in June to gather $600 billion in finance to provide lower-income nations with an alternative to Chinese cash.
Both stops will support Xi's vision of a world in which China can advance its interests without fear of economic or military coercion from the United States. The Chinese leader will elaborate on that goal at a twice-decade party congress next month, when he is poised to clinch a third term as head of the world's second-largest economy, Bloomberg via Yahoo Finance reported.
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