MOSCOW: Vladimir Putin of Russia and Chinese President Xi Jinping will discuss Ukraine and Taiwan at a meeting in Uzbekistan on Thursday (September 15) that the Kremlin says will be of “special importance” given the geopolitical situation.
Xi Jinping to leave China for the first time in more than two years for this week’s trip to Central Asia, where he will meet Putin, just a month before he is set to cement his place as the most powerful Chinese leader since Mao Zedong.
“The presidents will discuss both the bilateral agenda and major regional and international topics,” Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov told a briefing in Moscow.
“Naturally, they will give a positive assessment of the unprecedented high level of trust within the bilateral strategic partnership,” he added.
The deepening “borderless” partnership between rising superpower China and natural resource titan Russia is a geopolitical development that the West is watching with concern.
The meeting will give Xi an opportunity to highlight his influence, and Putin will showcase Russia’s penchant for Asia; both leaders can demonstrate their opposition to the United States, just as the West seeks to punish Russia for what Moscow calls a “special military operation” in Ukraine.
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