Xi leaves China for the first time since 2020 for possible meeting with Putin

It will be a trip that will last until Friday, and in addition to attending the SCO meeting, the Chinese President will also go to Kazakhstan at the invitation of his counterpart Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.

Meeting with Putin

While the Foreign Ministry did not approve of Tuesday’s meeting between the two leaders, the Russian President suggested last week that he plans to meet with Xi within the framework of the SCO meeting, of which they are also members. China, Russia, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

At their last meeting in Beijing at the beginning of last February, both leaders declared “unlimited friendship” between their nations, Shortly after, Russia attacked Ukraine.

Since the outbreak of conflict, China took a vague stance and called for respect for the “territorial integrity of all countries”.Attention to “legitimate concerns of all countries”, including Ukraine and referring to Russia.

Beijing has repeatedly declared its opposition to sanctions against Moscow as “having no basis in international law”. and “not solving problems”.

The meeting will take place at a time when China’s relations with Western countries are also bad due to tensions in the Taiwan Strait following the visit of US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi to the island in August. making military maneuvers around the island is what Taipei describes as a “blockade”.

First trip since 2020

Xi had last traveled abroad on January 17, 2020, to meet in Myanmar with the country’s then State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi. now he is in prison after the military coup.

Since then, and due to the outbreak of the covid-19 pandemic, the Chinese president has held the majority of his meetings with foreign colleagues and international organizations via videoconference from Beijing.

With some exceptions that occurred this year during Indonesian president Joko Widodo and the last Winter Olympics held in Beijing last February, the country did not invite foreign leaders.

This contrasts with his frequent overseas trips, the year Xi made his first trip outside of China to fully meet with Vladimir Putin since he took power in 2013.

this The zero covid policy still in effect, implemented shortly after Xi’s return to China in 2020, It consists of the isolation of all infected persons and their contacts in designated hospitals or facilities, strict border control and mass PCR testing campaigns, mobility restrictions, and selective or complete quarantine where cases occur.

Some commentators have described Xi’s trip as a symptom of a possible relaxation of said policy in the near future, but health officials recently reiterated that “zero covid” is the biggest danger. It’s a “more scientific and economical” strategy for the Asian country because it “detects new infections quickly and contains the spread at the lowest cost”.

In fact, the tactic, which, according to official figures, has reduced Covid-19 deaths in China below 6,000, has the open support of Xi, who said the measures taken last spring will “stand the test of time”. He urged the country to fight against any attempt to “distort or question” this policy.

an important date

Xi’s trip takes place in Beijing, the most important political meeting in the country, a month before the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of China (CCP) begins, and where the president aspires to a third term unprecedented among his predecessors.

At the 2017 Congress, Xi succeeded in incorporating his “political thinking” into the Party ConstitutionThe beginning of another constitutional amendment was ratified the following year, removing the limits placed on presidential terms.

At the most important political meeting in the country, which is held every five years, international and local situations will be analyzed and “action plans and main policies” will be created.

The CCP, which has been at the head of China since 1949, celebrated its centennial in 2021, and at the October convention, the current ruler is expected to consolidate his already enormous power, which some are starting to compare with the power amassed by Mao Zedong. .