Putin and Xi Jingping want to demonstrate unity in Beijing

Ahead of the opening of the Olympic Games, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping are meeting in Beijing. The two countries want to expand their cooperation further.

After several virtual meetings, Putin and Xi Jinping are now face to face in Beijing.

Mikhail Metzel / Imago

(dpa) Against the background of the Ukraine crisis and the tensions with the USA, China and Russia want to expand their cooperation. That is why Russian President Vladimir Putin and China’s head of state and party leader Xi Jinping are meeting in Beijing on Friday. The foreign ministers of both countries demonstrated unity at a preparatory meeting on Thursday.

Both sides have coordinated their positions on the Ukraine crisis, Afghanistan, North Korea and other international and regional issues, according to a joint document after the talks between Foreign Ministers Wang Yi and Sergey Lavrov, the Russian news agency TASS reported.

“China is willing to work with Russia to deepen the long-standing friendship and comprehensive strategic coordination between the two countries,” Wang Yi said, according to the official Xinhua News Agency. China wants to “uphold international fairness and justice” and bring benefits to the peoples of both countries.

Before the opening of the Winter Olympics on Friday evening local time in Beijing, Putin and Xi Jinping want to meet for their first face-to-face meeting since the outbreak of the pandemic more than two years ago. Since then, however, the two have held several online conferences.

The Russian President, who is being honored as a “Friend of China” in Beijing, is the most prominent guest at the opening of the Winter Games. Because of tensions with China and its human rights abuses, a number of countries including the US, UK, Canada and Australia are boycotting the celebration by not sending senior political officials. Germany and Switzerland are also not represented, but like Japan, they are not talking about a boycott.

According to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, both foreign ministers also jointly opposed the “politicization” of sport. Both sides also rejected any confrontation between international camps and bloc formation, it said.

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