In the joint statement released by the Kremlin, Putin and Xi called on NATO to rule out expansion in eastern Europe, denounced the formation of security blocs in the Asia Pacific region, and criticised the Aukus trilateral security pact between the US, UK and Australia.
The two leaders met for the 38th time since 2013. The two countries also pledged to step up cooperation to thwart "colour revolutions" and external interference, and vowed to further deepen "back-to-back" strategic coordination.
The statement shows how China and Russia have increasingly found common interest in their respective conflicts with western powers, analysts say.
"The parties oppose the further expansion of NATO, call on the North Atlantic alliance to abandon the ideologised approaches of the cold war, respect the sovereignty, security and interests of other countries, the diversity of their civilisational and cultural-historical patterns, and treat the peaceful development of other states objectively and fairly."In a nod to Russian interests in Ukraine, China said it
"understands and supports the proposals put forward by the Russian Federation on the formation of long-term legally binding security guarantees in Europe."At the same time, it addressed Chinese concerns about US-led trade and security alliances in its own region.
"The parties oppose the formation of closed bloc structures and opposing camps in the Asia Pacific region, and remain highly vigilant about the negative impact of the US Indo-Pacific strategy on peace and stability in this region."While there are still stumbling blocks in the relationship and a fully-fledged alliance between Moscow and Beijing is unlikely, the two sides are signalling that they want to roll back US influence in their respective regions. Xi told Putin, according to the Kremlin translation of their remarks:
"We are working together to bring to life true multilateralism. Defending the real spirit of democracy serves as a reliable foundation for uniting the world in overcoming crises and defending equality."Friday's meeting is Xi's first face-to-face engagement with a foreign leader in nearly two years. The Chinese leader has not left the country since January 2020, when it was grappling with its initial Covid-19 outbreak and locked down the central city of Wuhan where the virus was first reported.
He is preparing to meet more than 20 leaders as Beijing kicks off a Winter Olympics it hopes will be a soft-power triumph and shift focus away from a buildup blighted by a diplomatic boycott and Covid fears.
It was also a rare trip abroad for Putin, who has left Russia just twice since the outbreak of Covid-19 and has maintained a healthy distance from visiting leaders such as Hungary's Viktor Orbán.
But as he strode toward Xi on Friday, Putin gave a wide smile and shook the Chinese leader's hand before posing for photographers. The two are expected to attend the Olympic opening ceremony on Friday evening.
Following their talks, Russia and China also signed a series of trade and energy deals, including a new contract for Russia to supply an additional 10bn cubic metres of gas each year to China, Putin announced. Gazprom announced the 30-year contract to deliver the gas from Russia's far east to the Chinese state energy corporation CNPC, Reuters reported.
Russia already supplies China with about 38bn cubic metres of gas each year via its Power of Siberia pipeline, and is eyeing a second pipeline that would open an additional market for Yamal peninsula gasfields as its Nord Stream 2 pipeline to Germany has been threatened with sanctions in case of a Russian attack on Ukraine.
The leaders of both France and Germany have said they plan to travel to Moscow in the coming weeks to continue talks with Putin and head off a potential invasion of Ukraine. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, is expected to visit Moscow on Monday and then travel on to Kyiv on Tuesday, as he practices shuttle diplomacy between Putin and the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Germany's Olaf Scholz will travel to Kyiv on the 14 February and Moscow the next day.
China's state-run Xinhua news agency also carried an article from Putin on Thursday in which the Russian leader painted a portrait of two neighbours with increasingly shared global goals. Putin wrote:
"Foreign policy coordination between Russia and China is based on close and coinciding approaches to solving global and regional issues."He also hit out at US-led diplomatic boycotts of the Beijing Olympics that were sparked by China's human rights record:
"Sadly, attempts by a number of countries to politicise sports for their selfish interests have recently intensified. Such moves are fundamentally wrong."For its part, China has become more vocal in backing Russia in its dispute with Nato powers over Ukraine. Last week, China's foreign minister, Wang Yi, called Russia's security concerns "legitimate", saying they should be "taken seriously and addressed".
Moscow is looking for support after its deployment of 100,000 troops near its border with Ukraine prompted western nations to warn of an invasion and threaten "severe consequences" in response to any Russian attack.
China enjoyed plentiful support from the Soviet Union - the precursor to the modern Russian state - after the establishment of Communist rule in 1949, but the two socialist powers later fell out over ideological differences. Relations got back on track as the cold war ended in the 1990s, and the pair have pursued a strategic partnership in recent years that has seen them work closely on trade, military and geopolitical issues.
Those bonds have strengthened further during the Xi Jinping era, at a time when Russia and China find themselves increasingly at odds with western powers. In 2014, in a show of defiance against fierce western criticism over the annexation of Crimea, Putin turned to Xi to look for an alternative. Beijing showed its support by signing a $400bn, 30-year gas deal.
Other leaders set to enjoy Xi's hospitality during the Games include Egypt's Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, Saudi Arabia's Mohammed bin Salman, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev of Kazakhstan and Poland's Andrzej Duda.
About 21 world leaders are expected to attend the Games. A majority of those leaders rule non-democratic regimes, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit's Democracy Index, with 12 labelled either "authoritarian" or a "hybrid regime".
the same thinking is also today, no other than one nation especially, good old America..
over 22 million people killed, many are innocent civilians, also, the rape and torture of women and young girls, to breed the what ever race out, so just imagine how many children have been born in these poor countrys that have been raped by American military, it makes you beyond sick to the core..and daddy dearest is a nazi troop, oops, American soldier, navy or air force!!
democracy is dead, if not, very close to being dead in the west, all are forced to get a gene therapy based shot, it doesnt help you, protect you from this covid scamdemic, it doesnt stop the spread also, more have perished from the jab than the swine flue, they stopped that at 57 deaths, this scamdemic shit, tops more than a million adverse deaths, an yet, unreported, cos in the democratic west, money is more important than life itself, it goes to show, globally the same thought also,
nazi maggot fauci, lied to congress, and pedo biden blew him off because of it, and all got richer and richer, Ukraine made the biden fam hell richer a few years ago, so there is always something in the past related, yet the people of the world misinformed and not told the reasons why such shit is happening..
so, democracy, what is a democracy? the US gov all they do is bicker, bitch and whine like rat infested rich and stupidly retarded kids, of which all grew up with a silver spoon up there arse, not in there hand..
i can well and truly understand our friends, Russia, cos without them the west be speaking german today, i may not forget our friends also China, fighting the japs on behalf of the west, again, without RUSSIA AND CHINA, the west wouldnt be, at all..
and also, our friends Russia liberated most of the death camps the nazis had during ww2, and yet the Americans claim 100% they did it, again, lie lie lie lie lie lie lie lie lie lie lie,
the last 80yrs, so called democracy, is born from lies, so, now what.. the games are awesome, politicians in the so called democratic countrys, well, some need to be washed out, some others, need to be hanged from lamp posts, there in it for the buck, not the common interest of serving the people they promised to do such, but ladys and gentlemen of the sane world, the clock ticks..
tick tock, tick tock..
when out of office, forever looking over ones shoulder, these scum shites have made countless enemys, im happy to be remembered as a nice caring bloke when i leave this earth,
these nazi ball lickers, well, they dont realize, many decades down the track from now, they have each ruined there own close family circle, maybe all and any related to such scum of todays times, has made them a target.. such is fate right, so now, karma is on these arseholes, now, to end this bullshit, rid the jabs, rid the masks, put it back to as close to normal as it once was, otherwise, the history books wont lie and decieve next time, all and most names are getting ready to be printed into it, and they will not be erased..
but, my opinion, democracy is close to being 90% dead now.. Russia, China, ive travelled, met a few, they are the most friendliest people on the planet, cant say much for these democratic people.. rude, ignorant, arrogant, vanity, mass ego, never admit error, selfish, greedy, judges others, uses others for self gain, etc etc.. all the 7 sins, the west has them all, and even made more, just for ego sake..
you get my point.. good luck with the games, when its over, maybe real life bang bang, global reset, start again, in civilization building, common sense rebirth, and no more friggin phones, even though, one cant blame the phones and txn and driving to be a fault, its the small minded idiots that are addicted to them hiding behind a screen with no social skills..
end of , not a rant at all.. just saying..!!
no wonder there hasnt been any recent intelligent extra terrestrial life visiting this place for a while, theres clearly no intelligent life left on this fuckin planet!!