Russian President Vladimir Putin stepped off the airplane in Bejing to a full welcome ceremony. He was greeted by Foreign Minister Wang Yi, alongside a crew of other hosts and a crowd of cheering citizens. The important meetings between the two leaders will begin May 20.
Before his arrival, Putin released a short video statement addressed to China and the Chinese people. “Today, Russia-China relations have reached a truly unprecedented level,” Putin said. Our two countries are “actively expanding their contacts in politics, the economy, and defense, while broadening humanitarian exchanges and encouraging person-to-person interaction.” He noted that “Russia holds China’s centuries-old history and its achievements in culture, art, and science in high esteem.”
“The close strategic relationship between Russia and China plays a major, stabilizing role globally. Without allying against anyone, we seek peace and universal prosperity. It is in this spirit that Moscow and Beijing act in a coordinated manner to defend international law and the provisions of the UN Charter in their entirety, completeness, and interconnectedness.”
Putin and Xi are expected to sign 40 agreements over the next two days. One of which, according to presidential aide Yury Ushakov, will be a “Declaration on the Emergence of a Multipolar World and a New Type of International Relations,” TASS reported. Ushakov called it a “conceptual document…. This is a fundamental document, quite extensive, I should say—47 pages—and it defines the main development paths for our entire range of multifaceted bilateral ties, a clear shared vision of pressing issues on the international agenda, and the main formats for interaction in global affairs.”
Russia’s First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov told Vesti that the two countries are looking into cooperation in various areas of mechanical engineering—from automotive manufacturing to robotics and possibly shipbuilding. He also confirmed that Moscow and Beijing are in dialogue over artificial intelligence, reported TASS. He stressed the goal to reach $300 billion in trade turnover by 2030 between the two countries. “Of course, this is feasible, and the more fundamental investments there are, the greater the guarantee that these goals will be achieved,” the official noted.
CEO of Rosatom Alexey Likhachev revealed that nuclear power will also be a topic between Putin and Xi. Russia and China have created a roadmap for cooperation on promising projects in the area of peaceful nuclear development “for decades to come,” particularly in the development and operation of fast neutron reactors, Likhachev said. Russia, which has enormous competitive advantages in nuclear energy, is investing this “into cooperation with China, while simultaneously developing its own approaches,” he noted.
