(CNSNews.com) – Declaring that Russia-China strategic cooperation is “standing on the brink of a new era,” Russian President Vladimir Putin prepared to host Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday.
He charged that the U.S. policy of trying to deter both countries was becoming “ever more fierce and aggressive.”
Xi’s eighth visit to Russia is also his first trip abroad since beginning his precedent-breaking third term in office. It begins just three days after the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for Putin’s arrest for alleged war crimes in Ukraine.
In a guest column published in the government paper Rossiyskaya Gazeta on Monday, Xi spoke of the relationship in effusive terms, recalling that Russia had also been his first destination on becoming president ten years ago, and noting that he has now met with Putin 40 times in various settings.
Xi said the world was undergoing “profound changes unseen in a century.”
China and Russia were supporting the “U.N.-centered international system,” at a time when “the prevailing trends of world multi-polarity, economic globalization and greater democracy in international relations are irreversible.”
Meanwhile the world was grappling with challenges including “damaging acts of hegemony, domination and bullying,” he continued, along with a “long and tortuous global economic recovery.”
While Xi left it to his readers to infer who was responsible for the “hegemony, domination and bullying,” Putin in an op-ed of his own – in the Chinese Communist Party’s People’s Daily – was more direct.
“The U.S.’s policy of simultaneously deterring Russia and China, as well as all those who do not bend to the American dictation, is getting ever more fierce and aggressive,” he wrote.
“The international security and cooperation architecture is being dismantled. Russia has been labelled an ‘immediate threat’ and China a ‘strategic competitor.’”
Putin accused the West of having provoked the war in Ukraine and said it was now “diligently” fueling it.
That was “the most striking, yet not the only, manifestation of its desire to retain its international dominance and preserve the unipolar world order,” he said. “It is crystal clear that NATO is striving for a global reach of activities and seeking to penetrate the Asia-Pacific.”
Ceasefire ‘unacceptable’
Beijing last month released a position paper on “the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis,” calling for a ceasefire and a return to Russia-Ukraine talks, but silent on Russia withdrawing its troops from its neighbor’s territory.
The U.S. responded skeptically to the initiative, saying China was trying to present itself as a neutral mediator after a year of failing to condemn the Russian invasion and effectively siding with Moscow – rhetorically and politically, including at the U.N., as well as economically.
U.S. officials have also warned for weeks of intelligence pointing to China considering providing “lethal aid” to Russia to use in its war, although as of late last week the Pentagon said it has not yet seen evidence of this happening. China denies moving towards providing such aid.
In his newspaper column Monday, Xi also referred to the Ukraine situation, claiming that “China has all along upheld an objective and impartial position based on the merits of the issue, and actively promoted peace talks.”
He said China’s position paper “takes into account the legitimate concerns of all parties and reflects the broadest common understanding of the international community on the crisis.”
The U.S. has warned against any calls for an immediate ceasefire freezing in place Russian control over large swathes of Ukrainian territory, a point reiterated by National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications John Kirby in an appearance on Fox News Sunday.
“What we have said before and we’ll say it again today, that if, coming out of this [Putin-Xi] meeting, there’s some sort of call for a ceasefire, well that’s just going to be unacceptable, because all that’s going to do, Mike, is ratify Russia’s conquests to date,” Kirby told host Mike Emanuel.
“All that’s going to do is give Mr. Putin more time to refit, retrain, re-man, and try to plan for renewed offensives at a time of his choosing.”
Kirby underlined U.S. skepticism about China’s claims to be impartial.
“China has not condemned Putin’s invasion of Ukraine,” he said. “They are still buying Russian oil and energy resources, and they have at least given tacit approval [for the invasion] because they’ve taken the Russian claim that this is somehow an existential threat against Russia, that – that the war is the West’s fault.”
Kirby said the U.S. hopes that Xi will speak to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the coming days.
“We believe the Chinese need to get the Ukrainian perspective here.”
The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Xi plans to speak virtually to Zelenskyy, probably after his meetings with Putin.
For his part, Zelenskyy has expressed an interest in discussing China’s “political settlement” proposals with Xi, while saying there were some points in the paper that he does not agree with.