Putin concludes a trip to China by emphasizing its strategic and personal ties to Russia

BEIJING — Russian President Vladimir Putin concluded a two-day visit to China on Friday, emphasizing the countries’ burgeoning strategic ties as well as his own personal relationship with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, as they sought to present an alternative to China’s global influence. USA.

Putin praised the growth of bilateral trade while touring a China-Russia exhibition in the northeastern city of Harbin. He met students from the Harbin Institute of Technology, known for its defense research and his work with the People’s Liberation Army.

Harbin, capital of China’s Heilongjiang province, was once home to many Russian expatriates and retains some of that history in its architecture, such as the central Hagia Sophia Cathedral, a former Russian Orthodox church.

Underscoring the personal nature of the relationship, Putin said the Harbin institute and his alma mater, St. Petersburg State University, will open a joint school for 1,500 students. “I am sure it will become a flagship of Russian-Chinese cooperation in science and education,” he said.

Speaking to reporters, Putin praised his conversations with Xi as “substantial” and said he spent “almost a whole day, from morning to night” with the Chinese leader and other officials in Beijing the previous day. Leaving Beijing, the two leaders embraced.

The China-Russia partnership “is not directed against anyone,” Putin said in a veiled reference to the West. “Its goal is one thing: to create better conditions for the development of our countries and improve the well-being of the people of China and the Russian Federation.”

But he still had an indirect rebuke for the United States and others who oppose the relationship between Moscow and Beijing, saying that “an emerging multipolar world… is taking shape before our eyes.”

“And it is important that those who are trying to maintain their monopoly on decision-making in the world on all issues… do everything in their power to ensure that this process develops naturally,” he said.

Both Russia and China have frequently spoken of the “emerging multipolar world” in response to what they see as American hegemony.

Joseph Torigian, a researcher at Stanford University’s Hoover Institute, said the message sent by China and Russia was clear: “Right now, they are reminding the West that they can be defiant whenever they want.”

In Washington, White House national security spokesman John Kirby downplayed the meeting, saying that although the two countries are acting contrary to American interests, they do not have a long history of mutual trust.

Kirby noted that a U.S. intelligence assessment released last month indicates that China has increased sales to Russia of machine tools, microelectronics and other technologies that Moscow uses to produce missiles, tanks, planes and other weapons. “But they are also two leaders who don’t have a long history of working together, and officials from both governments who don’t necessarily trust each other very much,” Kirby said.

“What they have in common is a desire to challenge the rules-based international order” and challenge alliances and partnerships involving the United States, Kirby said.

Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu addressed Putin’s visit in an interview with The Associated Press and said Western powers should continue to support Ukraine as part of sending a message that democracies will defend each other. others.

“If Ukraine is defeated in the end, I think China will be inspired and could take even more ambitious steps to expand its power in the Indo-Pacific, and it will be disastrous for the international community,” Wu said.

Putin began his fifth term in power this month and Xi began his third last year. The Russian leader’s trip “is an example of how the two major authoritarian countries support each other, work together and support each other in their expansionism,” Wu added.

Russia has been isolated globally following the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. China has a tense relationship with the United States, which has branded it a competitor, and faces pressure to continue supplying Russia with key components needed for weapons production.

Putin began the day by laying flowers at a Harbin memorial to fallen Soviet soldiers who had fought for China against the Japanese during the Second Sino-Japanese War, when Japan occupied parts of China.

At the trade exhibition in Harbin, Putin highlighted the importance of cooperation between Russia and China in the joint development of new technologies.

“Based on traditions of friendship and cooperation, we can look to the future with confidence,” he said. “The Russian-Chinese partnership contributes to the economic growth of our countries, ensures energy security, helps develop production and creates new jobs.”

A joint statement Thursday outlined their worldview and laid out their criticism of U.S. military alliances in Asia and the Pacific. The meeting was a further affirmation of the “boundless” friendly relationship that China and Russia signed in 2022, just before Moscow invaded Ukraine.

Talk of ending the fighting appeared frequently in Thursday’s comments, although Russia has just opened a new front by launching attacks in Ukraine’s northeastern border area. The war is at a critical point for Ukraine, which had faced delays in obtaining weapons from the United States.

China offered a sweeping peace plan last year that was rejected by both Ukraine and the West for not calling on Russia to leave occupied areas of Ukraine.

Since the invasion and subsequent Western sanctions on Moscow, Russia has become increasingly reliant on China for technology and some consumer imports, while exporting cheap energy. Trade between the two countries rose to $240 billion last year.

European leaders have pressured China to influence Russia to end its invasion, without success. Experts say the Moscow-Beijing relationship offers strategic benefits, particularly when both have tensions with Europe and the United States.

“Even if China compromises on a number of issues, including reducing support for Russia, it is unlikely that the United States or the West will dramatically change their attitude toward China as a competitor,” said Hoo Tiang Boon, who researches Chinese foreign policy at the University of Singapore. Nanyang Technological University. “They see very little incentive to reach an agreement.”

Xi and Putin have a long-standing agreement to visit each other’s countries once a year, and Xi was welcomed to the Kremlin last year.

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Wu reported from Bangkok. AP journalists Dasha Litvinova in Tallinn, Estonia, and Simina Mistreanu and Christopher Bodeen in Taipei, Taiwan, contributed.