"The first in-person meeting between Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin since the start of the sanctions on Russia in February is expected to include discussions between the two leaders on how to deepen their economic ties.
The meeting, which is expected to take place this week at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Uzbekistan.
The meeting will mark Mr. Xi's first trip out of China since Covid-19 began spreading in the central Chinese city of Wuhan and is intended to signal Beijing's commitment to its relationship with Moscow and its willingness to stand up to Washington.
Mr. Putin could ask his Chinese counterpart for additional economic assistance to help counteract sanctions, some analysts said, but this wouldn't affect overall cooperation between the two powers because they will continue to share a strategic interest of countering the West.
"China will not change its willingness to further develop ties with Russia, because that is determined by the overall geopolitical dynamics, especially the deterioration of Sino-U.S. relations," said Yun Sun, director of the China Program at the Stimson Center, a think tank in Washington.
The two leaders last met in February in Beijing on the sidelines of the Winter Olympics and just before the sanctions on Russia, and signed a joint statement declaring that the partnership between the two countries had "no limits." Since then, Moscow has been fighting punishing economic sanctions from the U.S. and its allies, and Beijing has had to battle a slowing economy that has been weighed down by its strict Covid policies.
Mr. Xi is the only leader of the Group of 20 industrialized nations who hasn't traveled abroad during the pandemic. His trip to Central Asia just weeks before an important political gathering in Beijing, where he is expected to claim a third term, signaled his confidence about his political hand within China's Communist Party despite the slowing economy.
The Chinese government has sought to present itself as a neutral party in Russia's operation in Ukraine. Chinese officials have said the country isn't selling weapons to Russia, but they also haven't condemned the operation and have accused the U.S. of inflaming the crisis." [1]
1. World News: Xi, Putin Expected To Forge Closer Ties In Face-to-Face Talks
Zhai, Keith.
Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]. 14 Sep 2022: A.9.
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