Xi and Putin deepen partnership with call for ‘multipolar world’

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin deepened their partnership in Beijing on Wednesday with a series of agreements and a joint declaration calling for “a multipolar world and a new type of international relations.”

Meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing less than a week after Xi hosted US President Donald Trump at the same venue, the two leaders made veiled references to Washington. According to the Russian-language document released by the Kremlin, their declaration on multipolarity stated that “negative neo-colonial tendencies such as unilateral coercive approaches, hegemonism and bloc confrontation are on the rise.”

Xi and Putin also signed a lengthy joint statement, shared by the Kremlin, covering cooperation across a broad range of sectors. The statement referred to an agreement to continue “strengthening comprehensive partnerships in the energy sector,” spanning oil and gas, nuclear power and renewable energy.

Before the talks began, Xi welcomed Putin with a grand ceremony mirroring the pomp used for Trump’s visit. The two leaders inspected an honor guard outside the Great Hall of the People and walked past groups of children carrying flags and flowers.

In opening remarks, Xi told Putin that bilateral ties had reached “new heights despite thousands of blows.” In a “complex and changing world,” he said China and Russia, as permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, should work toward “a fairer and more reasonable system of global governance.”

In remarks that appeared to respond to Trump’s repeated threats to resume attacks on Iran, Xi also said that “it is imperative to achieve a comprehensive ceasefire without delay” and that “rekindling hostilities is even more unacceptable.”

Similar themes were echoed in Xi and Putin’s declaration on a multipolar world. The declaration warned that “international law and the fundamental, universally recognized norms of international relations are being systematically violated,” while global institutions were losing effectiveness. In their place, it said, “the law of the jungle” was taking hold.

The declaration rejected bloc confrontation and the expansion of military alliances, and opposed the use of human rights as a pretext for interference in other countries’ internal affairs.

The “Ukraine crisis” was referenced in the leaders’ broader joint statement, which said they agreed on the need to address the “root causes” of the conflict. The statement also expressed Russia’s appreciation for China’s “neutral position.”

The Chinese and Russian leaders have already met more than 40 times, underlining their “no limits” partnership at a time when the war in Ukraine, conflicts in the Middle East and broader geopolitical tensions continue to intensify.

Wednesday’s meeting could mark the first in a series of engagements this year, with Xi and Putin expected to attend multilateral gatherings including BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. Putin said on Wednesday that Russia supported China’s APEC presidency in November and that he looked forward to attending.

Putin’s delegation in Beijing included a dozen cabinet ministers and senior executives from Russian companies, who also held separate meetings with Chinese Premier Li Qiang on economic and trade cooperation.

The two leaders oversaw the signing of 20 agreements covering areas including the economy and trade, education, science and technology.

On energy, Putin described China as a “responsible consumer” of Russian oil and gas, and identified the sector as a principal driver of economic cooperation between the two countries.

China is seeking to bolster energy security amid continuing supply disruptions in the Middle East. Although the country maintains extensive oil reserves, the Iran war and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz have still pushed up fuel prices and raised industrial costs in the world’s second-largest economy, which buys about 80% of Iran’s oil exports.

Russia previously said its oil supplies to China rose 35% in the first quarter, while overall bilateral trade has exceeded $200 billion annually over the past three years.

Claus Soong, an analyst at the Mercator Institute for China Studies, or MERICS, told Nikkei Asia that energy agreements with Russia would serve as “a safeguard against potential shortages should the supply situation in the Gulf deteriorate further in the short term.”

“However,” he added, “this is also part of Beijing’s long-term calculation not to become overly dependent on Russia when it comes to energy security.”

The extent of progress on the closely watched and long-planned Power of Siberia 2 pipeline remained unclear. A Kremlin spokesperson said on Wednesday, according to Reuters, that there was a “general understanding” regarding the pipeline, but that details still needed to be worked out and that no clear timetable had been established.

Soong said the statements emerging from the summit reflected growing confidence in Beijing and Moscow, alongside their shared vision of a “multipolar world,” as the US steps back from global governance.

The signals, he said, showed that “China-Russia alignment will not be affected by China’s rapprochement with the US, or even more broadly with the West.”

“Although Beijing and Moscow are not formal allies, they have become strategically and politically more important to each other as sources of support and leverage in relations with the West.”