Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping have vowed to enhance ties across all sectors, including defense, and framed their alliance as a bulwark against US pressure, Reuters reports.
The meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping on 8 May 2025 goes beyond the planned Victory Day parade. It symbolizes a strategic partnership that effectively forms an anti-American enclave on the global stage. In essence, it is a strategic alignment aimed at consolidating Russia-China cooperation as a counterweight to the US and its allies.
In a joint statement, they have criticized Western support for Ukraine, claimed the war’s “root causes” must be addressed, and called for an end to “external interference.”
Xi and Putin have announced plans to elevate their bilateral relations to a new level. Following their meeting in Moscow, the two leaders agreed to firmly oppose US policies that, in their view, aim to “contain” both Russia and China.
During the talks, Xi added that Russia and China should work together against “unilateralism and bullying,” and called for the two nations to become “true friends in steel” who have endured “a hundred trials by fire.”
Putin has noted that Russia has become the world’s top importer of Chinese automobiles, and said Moscow welcomes the relocation of Chinese industrial production to Russian territory, The Moscow Times wrote. He has added that Russia is ready to offer favorable conditions to Chinese businesses and called Sino-Russian relations “a model of interstate interaction in the 21st century.”