At their meeting later this week, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected to discuss the conflict in Ukraine as well as other “international and regional topics,” according to the Kremlin. The two will meet in Uzbekistan for a summit that, according to the Kremlin, will present an “alternative” to the West. Mr. Xi is traveling abroad for the first time since the outbreak began. While Mr. Putin’s ties with the West are at an all-time low due to Ukraine, he is running for an unprecedented third term. Mr. Xi is starting his three-day tour in Kazakhstan, where he touched down on Wednesday for the first leg of his journey in the nation’s capital, Nursultan. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit in Samarkand, which takes place from September 15 to 16, is where he will next meet Mr. Putin.
Putin will also meet with the presidents of India, Pakistan, Turkey, and Iran, but his meeting with the Chinese president “is of particular importance,” according to Yuri Ushakov, the Kremlin’s spokesman for foreign policy. He stated that the meeting was occurring “against the backdrop of significant political developments.” The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), created in 2001 by four former Soviet Central Asian states, has long been positioned by China and Russia as an alternative to Western multilateral organizations.
Fresh fighting has broken out between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, two of the SCO’s members, on their shared border. According to reports, two border guards were hurt and one was killed; it is unknown what country they were from. A water conflict and other concerns led to sporadic fighting between the two nations last year. Mr. Xi’s visit takes place as China, where his “zero Covid” policy is still in effect, experiences a new round of lockdowns. Beijing continues to close down entire cities and provinces whenever there is a spike in cases, while the rest of the world has opened up and learned to live with the illness. Mr. Xi last traveled outside of China in January 2020, just days before Wuhan’s initial shutdown, to visit Myanmar. Since then, he has stayed in China, only traveling to Hong Kong in July of this year.
Also making a rare trip abroad is Mr. Putin. It was only his second travel abroad since Russian forces invaded Ukraine when he met with Turkish and Iranian leaders in Tehran in July. The two presidents have met twice this year; their first encounter took place during the Winter Olympics in Beijing in February. The two leaders said in a joint statement that the friendship between their nations knew “no bounds” after their meeting in February. Days later, Russia invaded Ukraine; China neither denounced nor endorsed this conduct. Beijing has said that both sides are at fault.
