MOSCOW/BEIJING — Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Beijing early on Thursday (May 16) for talks with Xi Jinping that the Kremlin hopes will deepen a strategic partnership between the two most powerful geopolitical rivals of the United States.
China and Russia declared a "no limits" partnership in February 2022 when Putin visited Beijing just days before he sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine, triggering the deadliest land war in Europe since World War Two.
By picking China for his first foreign trip since being sworn in for a six-year term that will keep him in power until at least 2030, Putin is sending a message to the world about his priorities and the depth of his personal relationship with Xi.
In an interview with China's Xinhua news agency, Putin praised Xi for helping to build a "strategic partnership" with Russia based on national interests and deep mutual trust.
"It was the unprecedentedly high level of the strategic partnership between our countries that determined my choice of China as the first state that I would visit after officially taking office as president of the Russian Federation," Putin said.
"We will try to establish closer co-operation in the field of industry and high technology, space and peaceful nuclear energy, artificial intelligence, renewable energy sources and other innovative sectors," Putin said.
Putin, 71, and Xi, 70, will take part in a gala evening celebrating 75 years since the Soviet Union recognised the People's Republic of China, which was declared by Mao Zedong in 1949.
Xinhua confirmed his arrival for what China's state press has described as a state visit from an "old friend".
Putin's arrival and visit is the top trending item on the Chinese social media platform Weibo, with 1.4 million search requests amid a stream of images, videos and comments.
The United States casts China as its biggest competitor and Russia as its biggest nation-state threat while US President Joe Biden argues that this century will be defined by an existential contest between democracies and autocracies.
Putin and Xi share a broad world view, which sees the West as decadent and in decline just as China challenges US supremacy in everything from quantum computing and synthetic biology to espionage and hard military power.
Putin will also visit Harbin in northeastern China, a city with historic ties to Russia. A mall devoted to Russian-made goods representing some 80 Russian manufacturers opened on Thursday, the China Daily reported.
China has strengthened its trade and military ties with Russia in recent years as the United States and its allies imposed sanctions against both countries, particularly against Moscow for the invasion of Ukraine.
The West says China has played a crucial role in helping Russia withstand the sanctions and has supplied key technology which Russia has used on the battlefield in Ukraine.
But China, once the junior partner of Moscow in the global Communist hierarchy, remains by far the most powerful of Russia's friends in the world.
Putin's arrival follows a mission to Beijing late last month by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in part to warn China's top diplomat Wang Yi against deepening military support for Russia.
Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said that the two leaders would hold informal talks on Thursday evening over tea and that they would touch on Ukraine, Asia, energy and trade.
Putin's newly appointed defence minister, Andrei Belousov, as well as Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu and foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov, will also attend, along with Russia's most powerful CEOs.
It was not immediately clear if Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller would go to China as he was on a working visit to Iran on Wednesday.
ALSO READ: Putin backs China's Ukraine peace plan, says Beijing understands the conflict
