China’s Xi warns West against cutting ties as he welcomes ‘dear friend’ Putin to Beijing

Xi Jinping warned the West against breaking economic ties with China on Wednesday as he welcomed his “dear friend” Vladimir Putin and other allies to a global summit in Beijing.

The Chinese president was hosting the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) forum, part of its long-term plan to build global infrastructure and energy networks connecting Asia with Africa and Europe through overland and maritime routes.

Representatives of more than 130 countries – largely from the global South, but including Hungary – attended the forum.

“We stand against unilateral sanctions, economic coercion, decoupling and supply chain disruption,” Mr Xi told more than 1,000 delegates gathered in an ornate conference room in the Great Hall of the People near Tiananmen Square.

Mr Putin sat with key Chinese officials from the 25-member Politburo on the front row, as Mr Xi delivered his opening remarks.

Western leaders insist their goal is not to “decouple” from China but to “de-risk” by diversifying supply chains that have become too dependent on the world’s second-largest economy. China’s threats to Taiwan and the trade disruptions of the pandemic years have added urgency to the desire to limit their dependence on China.

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As Mr Putin made a speech praising the BRI, several European officials left the hall.

During a three-hour meeting on the sidelines of the conference, Mr Xi told the Russian leader that both sides should explore cooperation in strategic emerging industries and deepen regional cooperation.

“China hopes that the China-Mongolia-Russia natural gas pipeline project will make substantive progress as soon as possible,” Mr Xi said. Both leaders also had “in-depth” discussions on the Middle East conflict, state broadcaster CCTV reported.

“In the current difficult conditions, close foreign policy coordination is especially required,” Mr Putin said in his speech.

“So, in terms of bilateral relations, we are moving forward very confidently,” he added, noting that Moscow-Beijing trade is on track to pass a record £164bn this year.

China is a key customer for Russian oil and gas, providing Moscow with an economic lifeline in the face of punishing Western sanctions imposed over its campaign against Ukraine.

Just weeks before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last February, Mr Putin and Mr Xi met in Beijing and signed an agreement pledging a “no-limits” relationship.

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Meanwhile, Estonia’s prime minister Kaja Kallas said pictures of Mr Putin shaking hands with Hungary’s Viktor Orban were “very, very unpleasant”.

“How can you shake a criminal’s hand, who has waged the war of aggression, especially coming from a country that has a history like Hungary has?” she told Reuters.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant against Mr Putin in March, accusing him of the war crime of illegal deportation of children from Ukraine.

“It is not so distant past what happened in Hungary, what the Russians did there,” Kallas said.

The 1956 Hungarian Uprising was crushed by Soviet tanks and troops. At least 2,600 Hungarians and 600 Soviet troops were killed in the fighting.

Reuters and Associated Press contributed to this report.