CHINA announced today that Russian President Vladimir Putin will make a two-day state visit to China this week.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry announced that Mr Putin will meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping during his visit which will begin on Thursday.
The ministry said that the two leaders would discuss “co-operation in various fields of bilateral relations as well as international and regional issues of common concern.”
No further details were mentioned.
In a statement on Tuesday, the Kremlin confirmed the trip and said Mr Putin was making the trip at the invitation of Mr Xi.
It said that this will be Mr Putin’s first foreign trip since he was sworn in as president and began his fifth term in office.
The agenda for talks between the two leaders will likely include the United States proxy military conflicts taking place in Gaza and Ukraine.
But trade between the two nations and co-operation with the global South will also be discussed. This may include further developments on moves to reduce the influence of the US dollar in world trade and financial transactions.
Last week President Xi returned from a five-day visit to Europe, including stops in Hungary and Serbia.
The trip, Mr Xi’s first to the continent in five years, secured deals that strengthened the foundations of a new world trade order based on mutual co-operation.
This stands in contrast to the US trade where a failure to toe the line often leads to financial sanctions or even military threats.
After meeting with nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Thursday, the leaders announced the formation of an “all-weather partnership” that would usher in a new era of economic co-operation.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto announced that a deal had been reached on a joint Hungarian-Chinese railway bypass around Budapest, as well as a high-speed train link between the capital and its international airport.
The two countries also agreed to expand their co-operation to the “whole spectrum” of the nuclear industry, Mr Orban said, and deals were reached on China helping Hungary build out its network of electric vehicle charging stations and on construction of an oil pipeline between Hungary and Serbia.
In Serbia President Aleksandar Vucic signed an agreement with China to build a “shared future,” making the Balkan country the first in Europe to agree on such a document with Beijing.
President Xi’s “shared future” agreement with Belgrade appears to be a step in the direction where the US and its allies are no longer able to dictate the agenda to the rest of the world.
