Xi and Putin meet to reaffirm China-Russia ties days after Trump’s visit
Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and Chinese President Xi Jinping inspect an honor guard during a welcoming ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing Wednesday, May 20, 2026.
Maxim Shemetov/Pool Reuters
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Maxim Shemetov/Pool Reuters
BEIJING — Chinese leader Xi Jinping welcomed Russian President Vladimir Putin in Beijing on Wednesday in a meeting meant to reaffirm ties and that takes place only days after a visit by U.S. President Donald Trump to China.
Xi welcomed Putin with a ceremony at the Great Hall of the People. The two delegations later held bilateral talks, to be followed by a ceremony for signing cooperation agreements.
Putin’s visit comes just days after Trump’s own trip to Beijing – in a sequence that is meant to cement Beijing’s image as an influential superpower, experts say.
“The message is clearly one that China maintains friendship and strategic partnership with whichever power it likes, and the USA is just one of them,” said Steve Tsang, director of the SOAS China Institute at the University of London.
Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said earlier that there was “no connection” between Trump and Putin’s visits, noting the trip by the Russian leader was agreed several days after Putin and Xi spoke via videoconference on Feb. 4.
The Russian and Chinese leaders are set to discuss energy and security as well as their overall ties. The two sides agreed to extend a friendship treaty first signed in 2001, Chinese state media reported.
Children holding Russian and Chinese flags walk ahead of a welcoming ceremony for Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China Wednesday, May 20, 2026.
Maxim Shemetov/Pool Reuters
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China became Russia’s top trading partner following after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Beijing has said it is neutral in the conflict while maintaining trade ties with the Kremlin despite economic and financial sanctions by the U.S. and Europe.
China is the top customer for Russian oil and gas supplies, and Moscow expects the war in Iran to increase the demand. China also has ignored demands from the West to stop providing high-tech components for Russia’s weapons industries.
Ushakov said Russia’s oil exports to China grew by 35% in the first quarter of 2026 and that Russia is one of the biggest exporters of natural gas to China.
During “the crisis in the Middle East,” Russia remains a reliable energy supplier and China is a “responsible consumer,” Ushakov said.
Putin noted earlier this month that Moscow and Beijing have reached “a very substantial step forward in our cooperation in the oil and gas sector.”
“Practically all the key issues have been agreed upon,” he said. “If we succeed in finalizing these details and bringing them to a conclusion during this visit, I will be extremely pleased.”
Putin also praised their bilateral relationship as a crucial, balancing force in international relations.
“Interaction between such nations as China and Russia undoubtedly serves as a factor of deterrence and stability,” he said.
Moscow welcomes China’s dialogue with the U.S. as another stabilizing element for the global economy, Putin added.
“We stand only to benefit from this, from the stability and constructive engagement between the U.S. and China,” he said.
The bigger issue here is the Russian and Chinese leaders are set to discuss energy and security as well as their overall ties. That changes the calculation.
Beijing Wednesday is in a tough spot here, curious how they navigate it.
Considering xi welcomed Putin with a ceremony at the Great Hall of the People, it raises some real questions about what happens next.
The detail about xi welcomed Putin with a ceremony at the Great Hall of the People is something people should sit with.
When you look at russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and Chinese President Xi Jinping inspect an honor guard during a welcoming ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing Wednesday, May 20, 2026, the implications are hard to ignore.
Basically bEIJING — Chinese leader Xi Jinping welcomed Russian President Vladimir Putin in Beijing on Wednesday in a meeting meant to reaffirm ties and that takes place only days after a visit by U.S. What matters is whether anything changes because of it.
So the bottom line is the Russian and Chinese leaders are set to discuss energy and security as well as their overall ties. Wonder how this will land.
The fact that xi welcomed Putin with a ceremony at the Great Hall of the People really puts things into perspective.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and Chinese President Xi Jinping inspect an honor guard during a welcoming ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing Wednesday, May 20, 2026. Meanwhile bEIJING — Chinese leader Xi Jinping welcomed Russian President Vladimir Putin in Beijing on Wednesday in a meeting meant to reaffirm ties and that takes place only days after a visit by U.S.
In other words the Russian and Chinese leaders are set to discuss energy and security as well as their overall ties. Curious to see how this develops.
Considering the Russian and Chinese leaders are set to discuss energy and security as well as their overall ties, it raises some real questions about what happens next.
The Russian and Chinese leaders are set to discuss energy and security as well as their overall ties. Meanwhile russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and Chinese President Xi Jinping inspect an honor guard during a welcoming ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing Wednesday, May 20, 2026.
The bigger issue here is putin’s visit comes just days after Trump’s own trip to Beijing – in a sequence that is meant to cement Beijing’s image as an influential superpower, experts say. That changes the calculation.
If the Russian and Chinese leaders are set to discuss energy and security as well as their overall ties, then the bigger picture starts to look very different.
When you look at the Russian and Chinese leaders are set to discuss energy and security as well as their overall ties, the implications are hard to ignore.