Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping at their bilateral meeting prior to the opening of the BRICS summit, on Oct. 22, 2024, in Kazan, Russia.
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China and Russia’s “profound” relationship will not change despite the turbulence in global geopolitics, Chinese President Xi Jinping told his counterpart Vladimir Putin at the opening of the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia, on Tuesday.
The two leaders met at the BRICS summit in Kazan on Tuesday afternoon local time, according to the official readouts from both governments.
“The world today is facing momentous transformations unseen in a century, resulting in a fast-changing and turbulent international landscape,” Xi said, according to the English readout of the meeting. “Yet I am confident that the profound and lasting friendship between China and Russia will not change.”
Putin also called the Russia-China partnership “one of the main stabilizing factors in the international arena,” according to the Kremlin’s official readout in English, reiterating his stance during a state visit to China in May.
Both countries have touted their “no-limits” friendship since February 2022 to act as economic and political counterweight to the U.S. global influence.
In his remarks, Xi characterized the China-Russia relationship as “non-alliance, non-confrontation, and not targeting any third party.” The two sides had “acted in the spirit of lasting good-neighborliness and friendship” and “kept deepening and expanding” strategic coordination and “all-round practical cooperation,” Xi said.
‘Signs of strain’
Yet the “friendship without limits” is not without friction, as China tried to position itself as a global player, while walking a tightrope on the Ukraine war by not condemning Russia’s invasion.
Beijing has been “careful to not become closely associated” with Russia’s war in Ukraine, and to “maintain a facade of impartiality,” Eugene Rumer, director and senior fellow at Carnegie’s Russia and Eurasia program, wrote in September.
Though Beijing proclaimed the “no limits” friendship with Russia shortly before Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine, China has not directly provided weapons and ammunition for the war effort.
The summit this week would be “a chance for Moscow to make a show of unity with Beijing amid signs of strain in the relationship,” Gabriel Wildau, managing director at Teneo told CNBC on Wednesday.
Wildau also pointed out that China’s tightening of…
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