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China’s Xi and Russia’s Putin discuss Gaza crisis and Ukraine war at belt and road forum meeting
- Chinese President Xi Jinping vows to defend ‘fairness and justice’ as he and Russian leader meet for first time since start of Israel-Hamas war
- Putin says ‘external factors’ and ‘common threats’ will strengthen Moscow’s ties with Beijing
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Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin discussed the Gaza conflict and Ukraine war on the sidelines of the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing, with Xi vowing to defend “fairness and justice” together with Russia.
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The Russian president made a rare international trip to China this week to show support for the Belt and Road Initiative – Xi’s flagship programme, now entering its second decade, which Beijing has touted as an alternative to Western development strategies.
This was Putin’s first trip to China since he and Xi declared a “no-limits” partnership between their countries days before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year.
It was the pair’s first meet-up since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war, which continued to escalate, with at least 500 believed to have been killed overnight at a hospital in Gaza just hours before US President Joe Biden arrived in Israel on Wednesday.
In a solo press conference following a three-hour talk with Xi after the opening of the forum on Wednesday, Putin said he and the Chinese leader discussed both the Ukraine and Gaza conflicts in detail, but many of the discussions were “confidential”.
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