Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin issued a joint condemnation of “irresponsible” US foreign policy on Wednesday, warning of “a drift back to the law of the jungle”.
The statement came after the Chinese and Russian leaders held a summit in Beijing that followed a visit to the capital by Donald Trump.
The exchanges between Xi and Putin were notably warm and Wednesday’s summit appeared to be more substantive than Xi’s meetings with the US president.
In their joint statement, Xi and Putin said they looked forward to further bilateral cooperation ranging from artificial intelligence to the protection of rare tigers, leopards and pandas. However, they failed to finalise an agreement over a pipeline that would allow Russia to double its fossil gas exports to China. Industry observers suggested that pricing was the biggest obstacle to a contract being signed.
The spectacle of the leaders of the cold war superpowers – each weakened by conflicts of their own making – flying thousands of miles to sit down with Xi in the Great Hall of the People underlined the Chinese president’s status on the global stage.
Xi and Putin went into their summit with a long record of close cooperation. They had already met more than 40 times, and Xi has described the bilateral relation as “without limits”.
The two leaders scolded the US for undermining global stability, in particular for seeking to develop a “golden dome” missile defence system, and for allowing a nuclear arms treaty to lapse in February.
“The global agenda of peace and development is facing new risks and challenges, with the danger of fragmentation of the international community and a drift back towards the ‘law of the jungle’,” the joint declaration said, according to the Kremlin.
Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has brought Russia and China closer together while increasing the Russian leader’s dependence on Beijing for support in the face of isolation by western countries. Reuters cited three European intelligence agencies as saying China had secretly trained about 200 Russian soldiers late last year, some of whom had returned to fight in Ukraine.
Beijing is officially neutral in the conflict but has continued to conduct military exercises with Moscow, and there have been numerous reports of covert Chinese assistance.
Putin’s visit followed a similar protocol to Trump’s. Chinese soldiers stood in position as a military band played the Russian and Chinese national anthems for the leaders in central Beijing. Children waved Russian and Chinese flags and cheered “welcome, welcome!” before the pair entered the hall.
The talks between Xi and Putin began with a short “narrow format meeting” to discuss sensitive issues. This was followed a “wide format meeting” with more delegates that ended at about 2pm local time (7am BST).
Xi and Putin then attended a signing ceremony for numerous documents spanning technology, trade, scientific research and intellectual property. Among the documents, according to Chinese state media, was an extension of the “China-Russia treaty of good neighbourliness and friendly cooperation”, first signed 25 years ago.
In comments after the signing ceremony, Xi said relations between Beijing and Moscow were at “the highest level of comprehensive strategic partnership”, as he called on both countries to oppose “all unilateral bullying” in the international arena.
Xi’s sentiments echoed his opening remarks, in which he said the world was in danger of reverting back to the “law of the jungle”. He added that further hostilities in the Middle East were “inadvisable”, and a “comprehensive ceasefire is of utmost urgency”, state media reported.
In his opening remarks, Putin hailed the countries’ relationship as being at an “unprecedentedly high level”, as he said Moscow remained a “reliable energy supplier” amid the Middle East crisis. Putin also invited Xi to visit Russia next year.
Xi is scheduled to host Putin for tea in Zhongnanhai, the former imperial garden that now houses the Chinese Communist party’s headquarters. When the Chinese leader hosted his Russian counterpart in May 2024, the pair did the same, appearing at ease as they ditched their ties while chatting.
China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, who greeted Putin when he landed in Beijing on Tuesday evening, is also expected to hold talks with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov.
Reciprocal trade and investment are likely to be top of the agenda for Putin as his sanctions-hit economy suffers under the growing cost of Moscow’s war in Ukraine. China, Russia’s largest trading partner, buys almost half of Moscow’s oil exports.
In contrast to the adversarial nature of Washington and Beijing’s relationship, Putin and Xi have signalled an increasingly warm bond over recent years, with the leaders labelling one another “dear” and “old” friends. The warm greetings once again flowed on Wednesday, as Putin recalled a Chinese proverb marking his eager anticipation of their reunion: “Even if we haven’t seen each other for a day, it feels like three autumns have passed.”
The setting and manner of Xi’s encounters with other world leaders is often viewed as a signal of the Chinese president’s regard for his guest, with the optics and outcomes of his meeting with Putin under added scrutiny coming so soon after Trump’s visit.
When asked by state media about how Putin’s summit stacks up to Trump’s, the Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said it was “not always easy to compare”, as not “everything is shown on the surface”. Peskov added: “The main value lies in the content, not in the ceremonial aspects.”
As Xi was preparing to welcome Putin, the Chinese commerce ministry confirmed China would buy 200 Boeing jets and seek an extension of the trade agreement with the US that was reached in Kuala Lumpur last year. The statement marked Beijing’s first confirmation of the Boeing order, which Trump alluded to last week.
The Russian news agency Interfax said Peskov did not rule out a meeting between Putin and Trump in November, when both leaders could attend the Apec summit in China.
