Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping pledge new era, flay US

Sandeep Dikshit

New Delhi, May 16

Weeks after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was given a frosty welcome in Beijing when he called on China to dial down any military support to Russia, leaders of Russia and China on Thursday resolved to deepen their partnership and upbraided Washington for the US attempting to violate the strategic balance.

Arriving in Beijing on his first foreign visit after taking over as the President of Russia for the fifth straight time, Vladimir Putin thanked his Chinese counterpart for his peace proposals on Ukraine and direct talks between Moscow and Kyiv.

Of interest to India is the resolve of both the leaders not to develop a partnership that is “confrontational in nature and not directed against any third countries”. This formulation was also reiterated in their earlier joint statement of March last year.

An exhaustive joint statement after Xi-Putin talks reflected the areas of further cooperation that ranged from cutting edge technology, nuclear, civil aircraft construction, machine tool and electronics industry and chemical industry and forestry.

Reflecting the importance of his visit, Putin is accompanied by Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu, Defence Minister Andrei Belousov, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Kremlin Foreign Policy Adviser Yuri Ushakov.

Some of the areas of cooperation especially in aircraft construction, electronics industry and AI are also of interest to India.

The joint statement expectedly saw Russia affirming that it recognises that Taiwan is a part of China. On Ukraine, China supported Russia in ensuring security and stability and opposing foreign interference in Russia’s internal affairs.