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Russian President Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping met on July 3rd while attending the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Astana, Kazakhstan.
“China has always been on the right side of history,” Xi said on the sidelines of the summit, signalling support for Russia over all-out war against Ukraine.
At the meeting, their second in the past two months, President Xi and President Putin agreed that relations between the two countries are at a historic high and that they must jointly safeguard “regional peace and stability.”
Meanwhile, Putin has also voiced opposition to outside interference in the South China Sea, where China seeks to further expand its influence and territorial control, pitting it against U.S. allies and interests in the region.
China has officially remained neutral in Russia’s all-out war in Ukraine and denied providing lethal assistance, but Beijing and Moscow continue to strengthen ties. Finnish President Alexander Stubb said earlier this month that Russia’s dependence on China had grown to the point that Beijing could end the war with just a phone call.
Various countries, including the United States, have accused China of continuing to cooperate with Russian military forces in Ukraine by providing machine tools, weapons technology, satellite imagery, semiconductors and other dual-use technology.
Opinion: New EU leadership should be united on China
European Union foreign policy will soon be under new management. While Ursula von der Leyen appears set to continue as president of the European Commission, the European Council president and foreign policy chief will be new. They will inherit an unenviable policy agenda.
