Xi Jinping welcomed Russian president Vladimir Putin with pomp and pageantry as the pair kicked off talks in the Great Hall of the People on Wednesday morning, days after the Chinese leader hosted Donald Trump in the same location. Chinese soldiers stood in position as a military band played the Russian and Chinese national anthems for the leaders in central Beijing. Children waving Russian and Chinese flags and cheered “Welcome, welcome!” in Chinese, before the pair entered the Great Hall. The scene was reminiscent of Trump’s high-profile meeting with Xi…
Tag: Russia
As a Weakened Putin Follows Trump to Beijing, Iran War Offers an Opening
President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia arrived in Beijing on Tuesday for a state visit in a position of relative weakness. His army is struggling to move in Ukraine. His seat of power, Moscow, has been increasingly vulnerable to Ukrainian drones. Russia’s economy is under severe strain. More Russians are growing tired of what increasingly looks like a fruitless and endless war. Even in better times for Moscow, its relationship with Beijing has been defined by economic imbalance. “China has massive leverage and can dictate exactly what it wants from…
Vladimir Putin to arrive in Beijing for state visit hot on heels of Trump
Vladimir Putin is due to arrive in Beijing on Tuesday for a state visit, four days after Donald Trump left China. Putin’s visit to China – his 25th, according to Chinese state media – reflects Beijing’s growing confidence on the world stage as a centre of global diplomatic activity. It also underscores the deep relationship between Putin and China’s leader, Xi Jinping. The two men have met more than 40 times, far outstripping Xi’s encounters with any western leaders. “Hosting two of the most powerful leaders in the world in…
From sanctioned cars to beauty clinics, Russian rubles have flowed into China’s border towns since Ukraine war
Suited and booted in a navy twinset tracksuit and colourful high-top trainers, Wang Runguo is hustling. Darting across the gleaming floors of his cavernous car showroom, the 45-year-old from one of China’s poorest provinces is closing on yet another deal. It is all in a day’s work for the man whose salary has more than doubled in the past year thanks to a well-timed pivot: from corn to cars; from China to Russia. This time last year Wang was working for an agricultural company that grew corn and soya beans…
Xi Jinping prepares to welcome Vladimir Putin to China, four days after hosting Donald Trump
Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin exchanged “congratulatory letters” on Sunday ahead of the Russian president’s visit to Beijing this week, four days since Donald Trump left China after a high-stakes summit. Xi, China’s leader, said bilateral cooperation between Russia and China had “continuously deepened and solidified”, with this year marking the 30th anniversary of the two countries’ strategic partnership, according to Chinese state media. Putin’s visit to Beijing is scheduled on Tuesday and Wednesday. An article published in state media tabloid the Global Times on Monday said the visits of…
‘For Example, Putin’: How Xi Used a Private Garden Walk to Charm Trump
An off-the-cuff exchange between President Trump and China’s leader, Xi Jinping, on Friday provided a glimpse into how the two leaders interacted this week as they negotiated the rivalry between their countries. Mr. Xi, who is rarely shown in Chinese media without prepared remarks, was filmed by the U.S. press traveling with President Trump. The two leaders are seen chatting through translators as they walk through Zhongnanhai, a walled compound that houses China’s leaders. Mr. Xi puts his hand out to guide Mr. Trump through an archway, pointing to a…
A Shift in Ukraine
For the past few months, the world has been paying a lot more attention to the war in Iran than the war in Ukraine. But the two conflicts have something in common. They both involve nuclear-armed military superpowers that have found themselves unexpectedly stymied by much smaller countries. That’s a new reality of warfare. Today I’m writing about why Vladimir Putin is feeling newly under pressure, why Volodymyr Zelensky is feeling emboldened — and why big powers with the urge to launch a war of choice might want to think…
As Ukraine seeks to edge China out of its drone supply chain, Taiwan emerges as a quiet player
Over the four years that Ukraine has been fighting to repel Russian forces from its territory, its country’s battlefields have become scarred by airstrikes, pockmarked by artillery fire, and littered with the wreckage of cheap aerial drones. The conflict has transformed the economics of modern warfare – with both sides now reliant on these unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to monitor the battlefield, evade defences and strike deep into enemy territory. The fighting has so far kept Russia bogged down, trapped behind frozen frontlines, allowing Kyiv to remake the country’s industrial…
The Tragic Decline of the American Navy
Alfred Thayer Mahan, a 19th-century naval officer and pre-eminent military strategist, believed his young country was destined to be great because of its Navy. Toward the end of his service, Mahan, then a U.S. Navy captain, wrote a landmark book about the age of sailing ships. Read avidly by kings, prime ministers and presidents — including Theodore Roosevelt, Kaiser Wilhelm II and the young Winston Churchill — the book posited the idea of a free world anchored by American sea power. Mahan believed America needed a large number of ships…
Why Countries Are Stocking Up on Gold
Central banks around the world have bulked up their reserves of gold, a safe but cumbersome investment that has been revived in popularity by intensifying geopolitical tensions and concerns over inflation. This year, the price of gold exceeded $5,000 per troy ounce for the first time in history. One major reason prices have soared — doubling in a year and a half — is the demand from emerging economies: The central banks of Poland, Turkey, India and China have been some of the biggest buyers of gold in the past…