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Vladimir Putin to meet Xi Jinping as Ukraine looms large - BBC News Vladimir Putin to meet Xi Jinping as Ukraine looms large - BBC News
(32 minutes later)
Laura Bicker
China correspondent Russia and China have "similar or coinciding positions on key issues on the international agenda", Putin said in an interview with Chinese state news agency Xinhua.
More than two years into Russia's invasion of Ukraine, China has emerged as a vital ally. It has refused to condemn the war and continues to trade with a heavily sanctioned Moscow, much to the ire of the US and the European Union. Both countries advocate "the primacy of international law, equal, indivisible, comprehensive and sustainable security" at global and regional levels, he said.
While Putin brags about his friendship with Xi Jinping, the Chinese leader might have reason to worry. "We also reject Western attempts to impose an order based on lies and hypocrisy, on some mythical rules of no one knows whose making," he added.
Washington and Brussels believe Beijing is exporting tech and components essential for war. The Sino-sceptics and China hawks are also getting louder, urging Mr Xi to exert more pressure on his Russian counterpart, as the EU mulls tariffs of its own. The lengthy written interview was published on Wednesday - a day before the Russian leader was due to arrive in Beijing.
And the fact is China's sluggish economy can ill afford this pressure from trading partners. Weak demand at home means it needs those markets abroad. In it, Putin had described Moscow-Beijing relations as an "unprecedented level of strategic partnership".
With the West growing more impatient with their alliance and Xi's hopes of playing peace keeper so far unsuccessful, he will be calculating the risk of continuing to stand "shoulder to shoulder" with an international pariah who he once called both a comrade and his "dear friend".
Here's more from my analysis on Xi's balancing act.
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