Hours after Donald Trump inauguration, Putin vows to develop ‘strategic partnership’ with Chinese President Xi

In a video footage of the meeting released by the Kremlin, Putin is seen waving at Xi and addressing him as his “dear friend”. During the meeting, the Russian president emphasised on the “new plans for developing the Russian-Chinese comprehensive partnership and strategic cooperation”.

“I agree with you that cooperation between Moscow and Beijing is based on a broad commonality of national interests and a convergence of views on what relations between major powers should be,” Putin told Xi.

“We build our ties on the basis of friendship, mutual trust and support, equality and mutual benefit. These connections are self-sufficient, independent of domestic political factors and the current global situation,” Putin added further.

Both leaders developed strong personal ties that helped boost relations between Moscow and Beijing, growing even closer after Putin sent troops into Ukraine in 2022. China now has become a major customer of Russian oil and gas and a source of key technologies amid sweeping Western sanctions on Moscow, news agency AP reported.

Putin and Xi, who have pushed back against the perceived humiliations of the 1991 Soviet collapse and centuries of European colonial dominance of China, have sought to portray the West as decadent and in decline.

The US sees China as its biggest competitor while Russia is seen as the biggest nation-state threat. Former US President Joe Biden had said that the world’s democracies face a challenge from “autocracies” such as China and Russia.

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