China Prez visits Russia on his first trip abroad

Xi was appointed Chinese president last week,concluding a leadership handover begun when he became Communist Party chief in November.

2 min readMar 23, 2013 01:48 AM IST

Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Moscow on Friday for his first trip abroad as his countrys top leader,underlining Chinas efforts to show it can turn to its own sources of support while the United States has been shoring up ties with allies across the Asia-Pacific region.

Xi was appointed Chinese president last week,concluding a leadership handover begun when he became Communist Party chief in November. While Xi has sought to mark himself as different from his predecessor,Hu Jintao,on domestic issues,he has continued Hus example of wooing Russia for diplomatic support and energy supplies.

Hu too made Russia his first foreign destination after he was appointed president,in 2003.

The fact that I will visit Russia,our friendly neighbour,shortly after assuming presidency is a testimony to the great importance China places on its relations with Russia, Xi told a small group of invited journalists at a briefing on Tuesday in Beijing about his four-nation trip abroad. The two sides have had closer strategic co-ordination on the world stage.

Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold talks likely to cover Syria,Iran and other international issues on which their two governments often join hands against Western demands. And the two will issue a joint declaration enunciating positions and proposals on a series of major international and regional issues, said Chinas state-run news agency,Xinhua.

After three days in Russia,Xi will visit Tanzania,South Africa and the Republic of Congo. In South Africa,he will attend an annual summit meeting of the BRICS bloc of emerging countries.

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