Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping are due to meet on Tuesday for official talks on the second day of the Chinese president’s visit to Russia, with Ukraine and the rapprochement between Moscow and Beijing on the agenda, as Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida visits in Kiev for a surprise visit and meeting on Tuesday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
MM. Xi and Putin should logically address the conflict in Ukraine again, as Beijing last month proposed a peace plan, but also their broader cooperation and the deepening of their economic ties, with the expected signing of agreements.
Mr. Xi’s three-day state visit to Russia is an opportunity for Vladimir Putin to show himself with a strong ally, while he is increasingly isolated in the West and targeted since last week by a arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is on his way to kyiv for a surprise visit and meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday, Tokyo reported.
Mr Kishida will “convey to President Zelensky his respect for the courage and perseverance of the Ukrainian people who are defending their homeland under his command, as well as the unfailing solidarity and support for Ukraine from Japan and the G7”, said the Japanese diplomacy in a press release.
Fumio Kishida was the only member of the group not yet to go to Kyiv since the start of the conflict in February 2022.
– “Diplomatic cover” –
Tokyo joined Western sanctions against Russia and announced in February a new aid of 5.5 billion dollars (5.1 billion euros) to Ukraine. Japan, however, did not provide military aid, as its pacifist Constitution forbade it to do so.
Monday, Messrs. Xi and Putin spoke one-on-one for four and a half hours, in an informal first meeting at the Kremlin.
“I know that you (…) have a fair and balanced position on the most pressing international issues,” Putin told his Chinese host at the start of the meeting, calling him “my dear friend”.
He also said he views Beijing’s Ukraine peace plan “with respect” and said Russia and China have “plenty of goals” in common.
During their exchange, Mr. Xi, quoted by the official news agency New China, assured him that China “will continue to play a constructive role” to find a political solution to the conflict in Ukraine.
China is posing as a mediator in Ukraine and in February published a document setting out several principles, such as respect for territorial sovereignty, and calling on Moscow and Kiev to engage in peace talks.
But the West judges that Beijing supports Moscow too much to serve as a credible mediator. Recently, Washington even accused the Chinese authorities of considering supplying arms to Russia, which they strongly deny.
Others in the West believe that China could take inspiration from the Russian attack in Ukraine to take control of Taiwan.
Also Monday, the head of the American diplomacy, Antony Blinken, affirmed that “the world must not be fooled by any tactical decision by Russia, supported by China or any other country, to freeze the conflict (in Ukraine) on his own terms.”
Mr. Blinken pointed out that Mr. Xi had visited Russia just three days after the ICC’s arrest warrant for Mr. Putin, which the US diplomat said suggests that China does not feel the need “to hold the (Russian) President responsible for the atrocities inflicted on Ukraine”.
According to Antony Blinken, this visit “would rather provide diplomatic cover for Russia to continue committing great crimes”.
On Monday, Chinese diplomacy had called on the ICC to avoid any “politicization” and to respect the immunity of heads of state.
For its part, kyiv, cautious about Chinese intentions, urged Xi on Monday to “use its influence on Moscow to end the war of aggression”.
– Geopolitical counterweight –
Questioned by AFP, the French expert Antoine Bondaz, a specialist in Chinese diplomacy, believes that Beijing is seeking to promote in the Ukrainian file an “image of a factor of stability (…) particularly with non-Western countries”, while trying to “delegitimize democratic regimes”.
In recent years, Beijing and Moscow have indeed posed as geopolitical counterweights to American power and its allies.
“No country should dictate the international order,” the Chinese leader wrote in an article published Monday by a Russian newspaper.
Economic and financial issues are also expected to form a big part of Tuesday’s talks between Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin.
Russia has notably increased its hydrocarbon exports to Asia to compensate for European embargoes which, according to observers, makes it increasingly dependent on Beijing.