Vladimir Putin held lengthy negotiations with Xi Jinping

Vladimir Putin’s two-day visit to China has ended. If on the first day of the visit, October 17, the Russian President held six bilateral meetings, then on the second he took part in the opening of the III International Forum “One Belt – One Road” (aka “Belt and Road”) and held negotiations with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Following the visit, the Russian President held a press conference at the Diaoyutai residence. At it, Putin explained what he and Xi talked about, and also spoke about the main issues on the international agenda. Putin announced that at an imminent meeting in Bishkek, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang would sign a plan for interaction between the two countries until 2030. He added, that the plan, which would detail the eight points agreed upon during Xi’s March visit to Moscow, had been developed quickly.

The Russian president told Xi during the negotiations about the situation that was developing during the special operation in Ukraine. According to Putin, Kyiv is conducting a counter-offensive in the Kherson direction, without achieving results there and suffering losses.

At the same time, the president called the statements made in the West about the need for negotiations “transformation in the right direction.” Putin is confident that if Ukraine really wants a negotiation process, then this should be done “not with some theatrical gestures,” but by lifting the ban on negotiations with Russia that has existed in this country since October 2022.

In addition, Putin called “ridiculous” US President Joe Biden’s assertion that Russia has already lost in Ukraine. “If the war is lost by Russia, why [США] supply ATACMS? – noted the Russian head of state.

“Let them take back ATACMS, all other weapons, [а Байден] sits down for pancakes, comes to us for tea,” Putin suggested.

The very supply of long-range ATACMS missiles to Ukraine, according to Putin, harms Russia and creates an additional threat, but it will be able to repel such attacks. He added that ATACMS will not be able to radically change the situation at the front.

Speaking about the attack on the evening of October 17 on the Al-Ahly hospital in the Gaza Strip (see article on page 10.), Putin used the wording “terrible event” and “catastrophe.” “I really hope that this will be a signal that we need to end this conflict as quickly as possible, in any case, we need to reduce the matter to the possibility of starting some kind of contacts and negotiations,” he said.

Putin believes that the leaders of Israel, Palestine, Iran, Syria and Egypt, with whom he held telephone conversations on October 16, do not want the conflict to worsen and turn into a full-scale war. Russia continues to advocate the creation of a sovereign Palestinian state with its capital in East Jerusalem.

At the press conference, Putin also spoke about a new approach to patrolling over the Black Sea, after the United States “dragged” two aircraft carriers into the Mediterranean Sea.

“This is not a threat <...> but on my instructions, the Russian Aerospace Forces begin patrolling on a permanent basis in the neutral zone of airspace over the Black Sea. Our MiG-31 aircraft are armed with Kinzhal complexes,” he said (see article on page 2).

Finally, Putin disagreed with those who call Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, whom he met on October 17, a “pro-Russian” politician. “They attack him mainly not because he takes a position that is different from other European leaders, but because he has the courage to defend the interests of his people,” Putin said.

He added that he was able to communicate with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic in China.

The One Belt, One Road Forum was held in Beijing at the Great Hall of the People on Tiananmen Square. Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered a welcoming speech to the audience. He stated that the ten-year successes of the One Belt, One Road initiative are great, the experience is useful, and “humanity is a union of, in fact, all people.” “It means that when everything is good in the world, everything is good in China. When everything is good in China, the world will be even better,” Xi said modestly. China has become a major partner for more than 140 countries, and the initiative is covering more and more corners of the world, Xi added.

Immediately after Xi, Putin addressed the forum participants. According to him, the “One Belt, One Road” initiative, put forward by the President of the People’s Republic of China, is future-oriented and “aimed at creating a more equitable multipolar world.” Russia and China, like most states, share the desire for equal and mutually beneficial cooperation for the purposes of progress and social well-being “with respect for civilizational diversity and the right of each state to its own development model,” Putin said. In his opinion, the initiative of the PRC leader is consonant with the Russian initiative to form a large Eurasian partnership, where the Belt and Road, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the Eurasian Economic Union can be linked.

The president went on to talk about what Russia is doing to create interconnected infrastructure, given its largest territory in the world, and, accordingly, connecting countries through it plays a big role. Among such projects, Putin named the formation of the North-South corridor, which connects Russian ports in the Baltic and Arctic with ports on the coast of the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean. Another route from north to south will pass through Siberia, for which the central section of the Trans-Siberian Railway is being modernized.

Russia is also working with foreign partners to build railway routes from Central Siberia towards China, Mongolia, and ports of the Indian and Pacific oceans. Another corridor is planned from the Arctic to the south in the Far East – this is a railway line from the BAM to Yakutia, bridges across the Lena and Amur rivers, the Pacific Railway, the modernization of highways, the creation of deep-water terminals on the eastern section of the Northern Sea Route. Putin said that all these routes open up the opportunity to connect Northern Sea Route with large logistics hubs in southern Eurasia.

The Russian President also said that Russia invites interested states to participate in the development of the Northern Sea Route, including Russia is ready to ensure the passage of ships through the ice: “Starting next year, navigation for ice-class cargo ships along the entire length of the Northern Sea Route will become year-round.” According to him, since Russia will chair BRICS in 2024, it proposes to create a commission on transport logistics within the framework of this association with the participation of members of the organization and other countries. Concluding his speech, Putin wished China success in implementing plans for the “One Belt, One Road” initiative.

After the opening ceremony of the forum in Beijing, bilateral Russian-Chinese negotiations took place. Only the welcoming speech of the two leaders was available to journalists. The negotiations were first held in an expanded format, and then in a narrow format – over lunch, where Putin and Xi were present, as well as the foreign ministers of Russia and China, Sergei Lavrov and Wang Yi. After this, the heads of state talked face to face during a tea party. The negotiations lasted three hours, more than an hour and a half of which were face-to-face, as Putin told reporters about at a press conference.

At the extended talks, Xi thanked Putin for coming to the Belt and Road Forum for the third time. He recalled his visit to Moscow in March 2023 and emphasized that good relations and personal friendship had developed between him and Putin.

As for the economy, Xi said that by the end of the year, China and Russia should reach a trade turnover level of $200 billion – this was previously the goal that the heads of state set for 2024. The Russian president said that in annual terms this figure has already been achieved at this time moment and, according to his forecast, it will be similar at the end of the calendar year. Later, Putin emphasized that Russia has already overtaken Germany in terms of trade turnover with China and “out of non-regional countries” now occupies 2nd place – after the United States.

Xi also said that Beijing hopes for the speedy progress of the project to build the Russia-Mongolia-China gas pipeline. The head of the PRC assured that his country will strengthen coordination with Russia through the UN, SCO and G20. Also, according to Xi, China supports Russia in following the path of national revival and protecting national sovereignty, security and interests.

The “One Belt, One Road” forum was held in China for the third time in 2023, and the Russian President attended all three times. At the same time, in 2023, fewer state leaders attended it than in previous times: in 2017 there were 29, two years later – 37, and now – 23.

The very concept of “One Belt – One Road” was presented by Xi in 2013; its goal was to create a transit and transport infrastructure between China, the countries of Eurasia and Africa, and later the countries of South America began to participate in the initiative. In total, as of August 2023, the initiative had affected 155 countries in one way or another.

Russia cannot be considered an ordinary participant in the Belt and Road, since it is coming up with its own initiative for a large Eurasian space, says the head of the Center for Asian-Pacific Studies at IMEMO. E. M. Primakov RAS Alexander Lomanov. But close interaction with different countries is important for it: Russia is now extremely interested in the rapid development of infrastructure in Siberia and the Far East, which leads to other Asian states. This ensures the demand for its roads, pipelines, etc. for the long term.

Politically, such cooperation is a good example of solving problems without value-political pressure, Lomanov believes. The West is consolidating on a bloc basis, which thereby fences it off with “high walls” from the rest of the world, he adds. Participation in the Belt and Road does not imply the need to swear oaths of allegiance to Chinese ideals, Lomanov says.

Lomanov does not see any political risks in the current rapprochement between Russia and China, despite the fact that Beijing always acts in its own interests. “At least for the next 10–15 years ahead, our interests are very close or coincide: defending our sovereignty and searching for non-destructive approaches to global governance reform,” says the expert. One should not expect the PRC, for example, to share all its available technologies with Russia, but the very high level of trust between them allows for effective cooperation on issues where the countries have the same national interests.

“Belt and Road” can hardly be called a gathering place for the global South, since this project is still purely Chinese, says Fyodor Lukyanov, editor-in-chief of the magazine “Russia in Global Affairs”. It is noteworthy that India, due to its difficult relations with the PRC, ignores the PRC’s initiative, and without New Delhi it is difficult to talk about the special significance of the event for the global South. Rather, the event was simply attended by participants who interact with China and derive some benefit from it, Lukyanov concludes.