Xi Jinping invites Vladimir Putin to China as the two leaders project unity in Moscow, Yahoo!News (South China Morning Post), Mar. 21, 2023.
China is ready to expand trade and investment and cooperate more fully on supply chains, mega projects, energy and hi-tech industry, Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Tuesday, the second day of his visit to Moscow, as he invited Vladimir Putin to visit China for this year's Belt and Road Forum.
Xi held a second round of talks with the Russian president on Tuesday, discussing international and bilateral issues, Xinhua and Russia's Sputnik news agency reported.
Earlier in the day, Xi told Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin that he had extended the invitation to Putin and outlined the new areas of enhanced cooperation, without going into detail.
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The trip would be the first visit to China by Putin since the start of the Beijing Olympics in February 2022; Russia invaded Ukraine three weeks later. The current trip is the 40th meeting between the two leaders.
"For years, our relationship has withstood the challenge of turbulent times," Xi told Mishustin in his televised remarks.
"I invited President Putin to visit China this year. This year, we have a third Belt and Road Forum. We have already held two such forums, and President Putin attended both. The Belt and Road [Initiative] is an important area of cooperation for China and Russia."
Mishustin also accepted an invitation from Xi to visit China after meeting him, his spokesman said.
Xi arrived in Russia on Monday for a three-day state visit, the first trip to Moscow by a leader of a major power since the start of the war in Ukraine 13 months ago. The Kremlin said the leaders would discuss the war and other topics including energy, trade and military cooperation.
Russia is the only country with which China has a "comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era", a designation that ranks it highest among China's partnership classifications, with the "new era" referring to Xi's signature political doctrine.
Despite the projection of unity between Beijing and Moscow, Beijing has not clarified whether it recognises Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, areas that Moscow annexed, as Russian territories. China has insisted that it is a neutral party regarding the war in Ukraine.
Mishustin also called for transport and logistics infrastructure development between Russia and China given the "new geopolitical conditions".
"I am absolutely convinced that the expansion of innovative cooperation will strengthen the technological sovereignty of Russia and China," he said. "In the agricultural-industrial sector, we prioritise ensuring the food security of our countries."
Weakened global supply chains, loss of fertile land and low crop yields of soybeans, wheat and rice have contributed to a heightened awareness of possible food shortages, focusing Beijing's attention on China's food security and agricultural self-sufficiency.
The value of food and agricultural products exports from Russia to China rose 44 per cent in 2022 compared with 2021, according to data from Russia's agriculture ministry.
Mishustin also said Moscow would continue to support a "grain corridor" project from Siberia and the Russian Far East to China.
Xi said in his opening remarks that he would discuss the state of bilateral ties and draw up a blueprint for China-Russia cooperation when he meets Putin later on Tuesday.
"In this regard, we have already achieved so much. I can see even more achievements to come," he said, adding that he would like Mishustin to liaise soon with China's new premier, Li Qiang.
The Russian economy has grown more reliant on China. Imports from China rose 20 per cent between January and February compared with the same period last year. China's imports of discounted Russian oil also softened the impact of Western sanctions that banned and set a price cap on oil products.
China and Russia signed a 30-year deal weeks before the invasion in February 2022 that requires the Russian state-controlled gas company Gazprom to supply the state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation with 10 billion cubic metres (353 billion cubic feet) of natural gas per year by around 2026.
Xi spent more than four hours with Putin on Monday night, including a dinner, during which Xi said that China is ready to continue playing a constructive role to find a political solution to the Ukraine war.
Putin reportedly said that Russia appreciated China's "consistent" and "balanced" position on major international issues.
US and European officials have largely dismissed China's 12-point position paper that says peace talks are the "only viable solution" to the war.
Kyiv has rejected any peace deal that would result in Ukraine losing its territory, including Crimea, which fell under Russian control in 2014.
The Ukraine war has further impacted ties between China and Western nations, which are concerned about Beijing's strengthening ties with Russia, and its refusal to condemn Moscow for the war.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said the meeting between Xi and Putin amounted to "diplomatic cover" for Putin after he was served an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court for war crimes.
China's foreign ministry on Tuesday called for the court to be impartial, avoid "politicisation and double standards", and respect the jurisdictional immunity enjoyed by heads of state.
Xi is to leave Moscow on Wednesday.
Additional reporting by Mark Magnier
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