Skip to main content

Putin, Xi to meet face to face next week in first meeting since war in Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, will meet next week for their first face-to-face meeting since the war in Ukraine began over six months ago.

The pair will meet during the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit set to be held Sept. 15 to 16 in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, Andrey Denisov, Russian envoy to Beijing told reporters on Wednesday.

"In general, this summit promises to be interesting, because it will be the first full-fledged summit since the pandemic," Russian media outlets reported him saying. "I do not want to say that online summits are not full-fledged, but still, direct communication between leaders is a different quality of discussion."

PUTIN TO ATTEND WAR GAMES WITH CHINA AND OTHER ALLIED NATIONS, EXPERT WARNS OF 'DANGEROUS' TIME

Denisov said Moscow and Beijing are still working to iron out details on when Putin and Xi will meet but said it will be a "serious, full-fledged meeting."

This scheduled meet up underlines the significance of an expanding Russia-China relationship as ties with the West have deteriorated over aggressive force postures in their corresponding regions. 

China has come under criticism for backing Russia amid its war in Ukraine, though Beijing has fallen short of openly supporting Moscow’s war effort.

In recent weeks, China and Russia have engaged in war games, renegotiated gas deals to better behoove their economies and have increasingly distanced themselves from diplomatic relations with Western nations.

RUSSIA'S GAZPROM SIGNS GAS DEAL WITH CHINA TO CONVERT PAYMENTS TO RUBLE, YUAN

The meetup between Xi and Putin is not only significant as it is the first international trip Xi has made since the pandemic, but comes as the U.S. and its allies warn that authoritarianism is on the rise.

China has drastically cracked down on civil rights across the country and in Hong Kong over the last several years, with its most recent threats levied at Taiwan.

Western officials remain concerned over Beijing plans to reunify the island – which has governed independently since 1949 – with mainland China.

Putin has also worked to reverse democratic progression first implemented under Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the USSR.

CLICK TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The Soviet Union collapsed under Gorbachev and the former USSR president has been hailed by Western nations as a champion for ending the Cold War – a shift in world politics that Putin has called the "greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century."

Putin has repeatedly hinted he plans to reunite, at least in part, the Soviet bloc with Russia.

Both world leaders have accused the West of over stepping in regional matters and fueling dissension.



from Fox News https://ift.tt/gPRaNhC
via IFTTT

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

China begins discouraging abortions and promoting fertility treatment as birth rate plummets

China will discourage abortions and take steps to make fertility treatment more accessible as part of efforts to boost one of the world's lowest birth rates , its National Health Authority said on Tuesday. Support measures from taxation and insurance to education and housing would be improved and implemented, with local governments encouraged to boost infant care services and family friendly workplaces, according to guidelines published on the authority's website. The authority said it would carry out reproductive health promotion to enhance public awareness while "preventing unintended pregnancy and reducing abortions that are not medically necessary." VIRUS TESTING THE NEW NORMAL AS CHINA STICKS TO ‘ZERO-COVID’ China's fertility rate of 1.16 in 2021 was far below the 2.1 OECD standard for a stable population and among the lowest in the world. The guidelines come as China's uncompromising "zero-COVID" policy of curbing outbreaks with strict co...

China reaffirms threat of military force to annex Taiwan

China on Wednesday reaffirmed its threat to use military force to bring self-governing Taiwan under its control, amid threatening Chinese military exercises that have raised tensions between the sides to their highest level in years. The lengthy policy statement issued by the Cabinet’s Taiwan Affairs Office and its news department followed almost a week of missile firings and incursions into Taiwanese waters and airspace by Chinese warships and air force planes. The actions have disrupted flights and shipping in a region crucial to global supply chains, prompting strong condemnation from the U.S., Japan and others. An English-language version of the Chinese statement said Beijing would "work with the greatest sincerity and exert our utmost efforts to achieve peaceful reunification." TAIWAN SAYS CHINA MILITARY DRILLS PART OF PLAN FOR IMPENDING INVASION "But we will not renounce the use of force, and we reserve the option of taking all necessary measures. This is to ...

The rapid rise of 'red tourism' in China

Growing up in Guang'an, Zhang Yiwen always felt a closeness to late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping, who spent the first 15 years of his life in her home city in the country's western province of Sichuan.