Just under a week after welcoming U.S. President Trump with a red carpet, Chinese leaders have welcomed another high-profile guest — this time, a close ally.
On Tuesday, Russian President Putin arrived in Beijing for a state visit, clearly demonstrating the alignment between the two countries amid global geopolitical turbulence.
At present, both China and Russia are recalibrating their relationships with the United States under Trump’s administration, while also weighing their potential roles in helping end the conflict between Washington and Iran — a dispute that has disrupted global oil supplies and distracted Washington from its long-standing war in Ukraine.
Naturally, the Chinese government will not overlook the fact that it has hosted two world leaders struggling with conflicts they cannot resolve on their own, within just one week. Beijing is now leveraging the tensions between Trump and Iran to emphasize its role as a responsible, reliable alternative global leader.
Meanwhile, Beijing and Moscow are both seeking to capitalize on Trump’s disruption of traditional American foreign policy, pushing for a new international order that is neither dominated by U.S. power nor constrained by U.S.-led alliance systems.
Putin’s current visit marks his 25th trip to China during his more than two decades as president. During this period, cooperation between China and Russia has deepened across trade, security, and diplomacy — driven both by mutual distrust toward Washington and by the evident personal rapport between Putin and Chinese leaders, who frequently refer to each other as “old friends.” The two have met over 40 times.
As a state visit, Putin is expected to receive the same high-level honors accorded to Trump: a red carpet, military band, and all the customary formalities.
In a statement released ahead of his visit, Putin highly praised Sino-Russian relations, calling them “truly unprecedented in scale.” He added, “The two sides support each other on issues concerning their core interests, including safeguarding sovereignty and national unity.”
Before this visit, official Chinese media outlets have published multiple articles extolling the “unbreakable” bond between the two nations amid an “unstable international situation.” An article in Global Times even interpreted the nearly back-to-back visits by U.S. and Russian leaders to China as a signal that China “is rapidly becoming the focal point of global diplomacy.”
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1865602525966468/
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