Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin met in Uzbekistan on the 15th (local time) to solidify the anti-US solidarity. This is the first face-to-face meeting between the two leaders since the outbreak of the Ukraine war in February. It is evaluated that the two leaders, who are in conflict with the United States, have strengthened their will for strategic cooperation.
Russia-China bilateral talks
According to foreign media such as Archyde.com on the 15th, the two leaders held bilateral talks in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, which they visited to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit. The SCO is a political, economic and security consultative body led by China and Russia. This is the first face-to-face meeting between the two leaders in regarding seven months since the meeting in Beijing in early February, the opening day of the Beijing Winter Olympics.
In a statement released to the press on the same day, Putin told Xi that he “very highly appreciates China’s balanced stance on Ukraine.” China’s silence on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been criticized as “tacitly sympathizing with the war” by western countries without calling it an ‘aggression’.
“We adhere to the ‘one China’ principle,” Putin said. After US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan in August, he mentioned that the US sent a missile cruiser to China’s armed protests in the Taiwan Strait. “We cannot accept an attempt by the United States to create a world centered on itself,” he said.
“China will strive to play its role as a great power together with Russia,” Xi said. Xi also called Putin an “old friend.”
Expanding China’s ‘anti-American solidarity’
Foreign media estimated that the two leaders discussed the prolongation of the Ukraine war and conflicts with the United States and discussed strategic cooperation plans at the summit. Russia and China are in conflict with the United States over the Ukraine war and Taiwan relations, respectively. Since the Biden administration took office, the US has focused on nurturing its own industries and is also fighting a war for economic supremacy with China in sectors such as semiconductors and biotechnology.
China started to expand its anti-US solidarity with the SCO summit as an opportunity. After visiting Kazakhstan ahead of the SCO, Xi met with the leaders of Central Asian countries in Uzbekistan.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee passed a bill that treats Taiwan as an ally and recognizes the legitimacy of the Taiwanese government. If the law goes into effect, it will ban restrictions on diplomatic relations between the United States and Taiwan and will also remove restrictions on the use of the Taiwanese flag. In effect, Taiwan is recognized as a country and the “one China” that has been maintained for 43 years since the establishment of diplomatic ties between the US and China in 1979 is abolished. China strongly opposed the bill, saying it would overturn the relationship between the United States and China.
Noh Yoo-jeong/Washington = Reporter Jeong In-seol yjroh@hankyung.com
