As soon as the "family affairs" were arranged, Putin rushed to China without stopping.
On May 14, Chinese and Russian officials announced almost simultaneously that Putin would pay a state visit to China from May 16 to 17, a two-day itinerary that was fully scheduled.
This is Putin's first foreign visit after starting his new term, and it is also his 20th visit to China, and it coincides with the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Russia.
So, what are China and Russia going to talk about this time? In general, Putin came to China this time to do two major things, and he also had to go to the northeast to look for business opportunities.
First, China and Russia exchanged views and signed a joint statement on international and regional issues of common concern.
Needless to say, the Russia-Ukraine conflict is bound to be a top priority. At present, although the Russian army has the upper hand on the battlefield, the problem is that there are not many results, and Ukraine has not been defeated, the most important thing is that a large amount of military aid from the United States and the West is pouring in, continue to fight, and NATO may even send troops to reinforce Ukraine. Of course, in the final analysis, these are just bargaining chips, and the communication channels between Russia and the West are basically cut off, and if you want to communicate effectively, you need China to come forward to match.
At the beginning of the month, when China's high-level Chinese officials visited France, China and France jointly proposed to take the Paris Olympics as an opportunity to hope that Russia, Ukraine, Palestine and Israel would achieve a sustainable ceasefire during the Olympic Games.
Second, to promote the development of bilateral relations between China and Russia, as well as cooperation in various fields, the two countries will sign a number of bilateral cooperation documents.
As we all know, since the launch of the "special military operation" on February 24, 2022, the United States and the European Union have launched tens of thousands of economic sanctions against Russia, which can be said to cover all aspects, including military spending, which has accounted for 6.7% of GDP and 35% of government spending, which has brought unprecedented challenges to the Russian national economy.
But the good thing is that "the west is not bright and the east is bright", China still maintains normal trade with Russia, imports a large amount of energy, and helps Russia through the most difficult stage, and with the wider scope of Sino-Russian cooperation and the continuous improvement of trade structure, the cooperation between China and Russia is also constantly improving. In 2023, the total bilateral economic volume between China and Russia will reach a record high, exceeding US$240 billion, reaching the trade target of US$200 billion ahead of schedule. In the first quarter of this year, it continued to maintain a good momentum, with bilateral trade volume of 56.68 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 5.2%.
In addition, Putin will also go deep into northeast China to attend the 8th Russia-China Expo and the 4th China-Russia Forum on Local Cooperation in Harbin, and meet with teachers and students of Harbin Institute of Technology. The 8th Russia-China Expo will be held in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province from May 16 to 21, and the expo is expected to exhibit more than 5,000 products in 10 fields, more than 20 categories.
Needless to say, it is of utmost importance for Russia to continue to maintain the heat of bilateral relations. To put it bluntly, after Putin's new presidential term, his first foreign visit was to China, that is, to determine Russia's diplomatic strategy of "looking east" in the next 6 or even 12 years.
For China, at least for the time being, the benefits outweigh the disadvantages of good relations between China and Russia, and the global competition between China and the United States does require the stability of China-Russia relations. China and Russia are non-aligned, non-confrontational, and not aimed at third countries, and we define China-Russia relations as a comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination, which is completely different from the military alliance of small NATO groups. But in this way, from the perspective of the United States, a sense of crisis must also arise from this.
In recent years, the United States has never lessened its suppression of China, from economic sanctions to scientific and technological blockades and trade wars, from instigating neighboring countries to engage in "mini-NATO" to the "Taiwan card" that it is best at, and the total amount of arms sales to Taiwan has reached $70 billion. What is ridiculous is that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken made a special trip to China at the end of last month to put pressure on Sino-Russian relations, vainly claiming that China must "stop supporting Russia's war in Ukraine".
Great power politics has always played a clear card, and the logic of the tripartite game of "China, the United States and Russia" is also very simple: whoever can sit firmly in the middle will be in the initiative. In the ever-changing game of great powers, we must grasp the main contradiction and avoid grasping the beard and eyebrows.