On April 26, 2024, after a three-day visit to China, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken left China and returned to the United States on the same day, and on the day Blinken left China, Russia also officially announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin would visit China. According to the Kremlin and Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov, preparations for the Russian president's visit to China are nearing completion. As for when President Putin's visit to China will be announced and how the specific itinerary will be arranged, it will be announced by the two countries at the same time after the relevant departments of China and Russia have finalized it.
Both the Russian side and the Chinese side have paid close attention to Putin's visit to China, and in fact, the United States is also very concerned about this matter, and Russia wants to announce President Putin's visit to China just after Blinken's return from his visit to China, which is also based on various considerations.
First, Russia is highly concerned about Sino-US relations. During Blinken's three-day visit to China, it can be seen from the statements of the Russian mainstream media and officials, large and small, that Russia is indeed very concerned about Blinken's visit to China, and everyone knows very well that in fact, Blinken's visit to China is the established content arranged in the phone call between the Chinese and American heads of state. As soon as Blinken landed in Shanghai on April 24, the Russian Foreign Ministry directly pointed out that in fact, Secretary of State Blinken's visit to China was intended to sow discord between China and Russia. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Ryabkov also confidently said that no matter how much effort Blinken puts into it, it can only be a delusion to shake the rock-solid relationship between China and Russia.
On April 25, Russian President Vladimir Putin also said again at a joint meeting of Russian industrialists and entrepreneurs that after taking office as president on May 7, he would visit China and bring a big gift package to Chinese comrades. On April 26, Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov further stressed that at present, the preliminary work on Putin's visit to China has been prepared, and the Russian Foreign Ministry will choose an appropriate time to announce the news of Putin's visit with his Chinese counterpart. During Blinken's three-day visit to China, Russia paid close attention to the whole process and constantly reminded Blinken and warned the United States not to sow discord in China-Russia relations. This is one of the reasons why Russia announced that Putin was going to visit China, and Russia seized the timing very accurately, and constantly knocked Blinken and warned the United States, from this point of view, Russia can be regarded as well-intentioned.
Second, Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to China, in addition to the choice of the release date, has been closely following Blinken's three-day itinerary, and it is also a set action after Russian President Vladimir Putin won the election. In March this year, when Putin had just won the Russian presidential election, the leader of the Russian Communist Party suggested that Putin immediately make a trip to visit China, because the Chinese comrades were waiting for Putin and because Russia's friends were in the East. At that time, Putin also gladly accepted the suggestion of the leader of the Russian Communist Party and said that he would visit China in May, and thus it was finalized that the target country of Russian President Putin's visit after winning the election was basically China.
During Secretary Blinken's visit to China, Russia continued to play up this news at the right time, just to show that Russia's relationship with China is extraordinary compared to the phone call between the two heads of state. Because after the newly elected president, Putin will visit China as soon as possible, which shows that in the interaction between China, the United States and Russia, the relationship between China and Russia is indeed a back-to-back strategic relationship. This is another meaning that Russia wants to express, which is to remind the United States and Blinken that no matter how the United States provokes and persecutes China, the United States has no choice but to shake the issue of destabilizing Sino-Russian relations.
Third, the reason why Russian President Vladimir Putin announced his visit to China this time was chosen in May is that Putin will hold an inauguration ceremony on May 7 and Putin will preside over a military parade on Victory Day on May 9. Only after completing these two very critical tasks can Russian President Vladimir Putin visit China in his new capacity, and when the Chinese and Russian heads of state formally meet, can the variables brought about by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's visit to China be effectively eliminated. On April 27, "Russia Today" analyzed that although Blinken's visit to China could not shake the relationship between China and Russia, it could cause trouble for Russia. Therefore, when Russia is facing severe sanctions from the United States and the West, Putin also needs to visit China as soon as possible to eliminate the negative impact of the United States and turn the uncertainties in Sino-Russian relations into a certain and hopeful future.
Fourth, Putin's visit to China has further strengthened the impression of the world, after the outbreak of the Sino-US game and the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the world has slowly kicked off, in this chaotic world, the United States has gathered Western forces to suppress China and Russia, as well as the ambition to harvest the wealth of developing countries. In the face of this situation, only by further strengthening the synergistic relationship between China and Russia can the chaotic and intertwined world not be overturned. From the perspective of the interaction between China, the United States, and Russia, we can see from the phone calls between the heads of state of China and the United States and the visit of the Russian president to China that at present, in the face of such great changes, the triangular relationship formed by China, the United States, and Russia has become a new power pattern in this world.