Moscow: Chinese President Xi Jinping began a three-day visit to “best friend” Vladimir Putin on Wednesday with a touch of panda diplomacy and a raft of new Russian-Chinese business contracts.
The leaders praised their countries’ ties during talks at the Kremlin, as Russia and China seek to shore up cooperation amid shared tensions with the US.
“President Putin is for me a best friend,” Xi told journalists during a joint statement following the meeting. “We decided that we would raise our bilateral relations to a new, higher level — increasing our mutual support and assistance, and promote our relations in a new era,” he said, in remarks translated into Russian.
Russian President Putin thanked his Chinese counterpart for an earlier loan of two pandas that are being housed at the Moscow Zoo. “This is a sign of a special respect, of a special trust in Russia,” he said. “When we speak about pandas, a smile always appears on our face.” The two men signed a joint statement on the development of comprehensive partnership and strategic cooperation.
Major Russian and Chinese companies meanwhile signed cooperation agreements. China’s Alibaba, Russian mobile phone operator Megafon, internet group Mail.ru and the Russian sovereign investment fund RDIF closed a deal on a joint e-commerce venture.
Mail.ru head Boris Dobrodeyev said in a statement that the new company AliExpress Russia would become the “undisputed leader in Russian e-commerce”. Russian telecoms company MTS and Chinese Huawei also signed a memorandum of understanding, while Russia’s Novatek and Gazprombank signed an agreement with Sinopec to market gas in China.
The trip comes five years after Moscow’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula led to a serious rift with its Western partners and subsequent turn toward its neighbour to the east.
“In recent years, thanks to your direct participation, the relationship between Russia and China has reached an unprecedentedly high level,” Putin told Xi on Wednesday.
Xi, who was received with full honours when he arrived at Moscow’s Vnukovo airport in the afternoon, was set to attend a performance at the Bolshoi Theatre in the evening. He will later travel to the former imperial capital of Saint Petersburg for an economic forum hosted by Putin Thursday and Friday.
