Putin welcomed to Beijing by Xi Jinping for state visit
Russian President Vladimir Putin praised his close ties with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and said their countries are partners in trade and international affairs as they opened bilateral talks Wednesday on his trip to Beijing.
Objective Facts
Russian President Vladimir Putin praised his close ties with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and said their countries are partners in trade and international affairs as they opened bilateral talks Wednesday on his trip to Beijing. Xi welcomed Putin with a ceremony at the Great Hall of the People only days after meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump. The two sides agreed to extend a friendship treaty first signed in 2001, Chinese state media reported. The two countries signed some 20 agreements during Putin's visit, according to Chinese state media. The quick succession of Trump's and Putin's visits highlighted Beijing's growing role as an international superpower, experts say. For Xi, having both Trump and Putin visit in such close succession is a major source of credit with the country's top Communist leadership. Chinese and Russian state media (Xinhua and TASS) jointly promoted the visit as evidence of an unbreakable partnership, contrasting sharply with Western coverage's emphasis on power asymmetry.
Left-Leaning Perspective
Washington Post's coverage emphasized how back-to-back visits to Beijing by the American and Russian presidents are highlighting that China's Xi Jinping is the world leader to be reckoned with and courted. CNN global affairs analyst Brett McGurk stressed the significance of Xi's reported comments to Trump; Chinese President Xi Jinping reportedly remarked that Vladimir Putin might one day regret invading Ukraine, and the new trends on the battlefield suggest he's right. McGurk argued this positions the US to reinforce Ukrainian capabilities rather than abandon allies. Left-leaning analysts consistently portrayed Putin as the weaker party in the relationship. For Putin — whose two-day visit is his 25th to China as president — it is crucial to reaffirm ties with China amid an intractable war with Ukraine he seems increasingly unable to win, which is helping fuel rare signs of public dissatisfaction. (NBC News) Natasha Kuhrt of King's College London told outlets that Russia is "much more on the back foot now," as "the likelihood of Russia prevailing in the war is far less certain," meaning "Russia's value to Beijing could diminish." Left-leaning coverage downplayed the ceremonial equality of Trump's and Putin's welcomes, instead framing Putin's visit as a desperate plea for continued Chinese support. Outlets like CNN and NBC emphasized Ukraine's recent territorial gains and mounting Russian casualties, suggesting Putin's position has fundamentally weakened since his last Beijing visit in September 2025.
Right-Leaning Perspective
The Washington Times and Euronews provided straightforward reporting on the summit's ceremonial aspects without emphasizing power asymmetry. The trip comes just days after Trump's own visit to Beijing in a sequence that is meant to cement China's image as an influential superpower. Steve Tsang, director of the SOAS China Institute at the University of London, said "The message is clearly one that China maintains friendship and strategic partnership with whichever power it likes, and the USA is just one of them." Right-leaning and conservative-aligned outlets focused on the joint statement's criticism of Trump policies. China and Russia took aim at US President Donald Trump's plans for a $175bn "Golden Dome" defence system. The duo also criticised the expiry of the last US-Russia arms control treaty, which fell to the wayside in February when Trump failed to respond to Moscow's proposal to extend it by a year. These outlets framed the visit as evidence that Trump's diplomacy failed to prevent a consolidated Russian-Chinese bloc. Right-leaning coverage also noted that Trump wrapped up his own highly-publicised but largely underwhelming trip to Beijing, departing China on Friday without appearing to have made any major progress on trade, Ukraine, or his war with Iran, with the implication that Putin's warmer reception underscored Trump's diplomatic limitations.
Deep Dive
The visit reveals a critical asymmetry masked by ceremonial symmetry. Xi welcomed Putin with a ceremony at the Great Hall of the People only days after meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, and the quick succession of Trump's and Putin's visits highlighted Beijing's growing role as an international superpower. This choreography demonstrates China's ability to maintain strategic relationships with both superpowers simultaneously, a diplomatic feat neither Washington nor Moscow can replicate. However, the underlying calculus differs starkly between the two leaders. For Xi, the back-to-back summits serve multiple purposes: reassuring Putin that Trump's visit doesn't signal abandonment, cementing China's image as the world's pivotal power, and securing economic deals with both partners. Xi may use the increasingly lopsided relationship between the two – with the Russian economy heavily beholden to China – to push for wins for Beijing in energy cooperation at time when conflict in the Middle East is squeezing Beijing's access to crude oil. For Putin, however, the visit is driven by necessity rather than choice. For Putin — whose two-day visit is his 25th to China as president — it is crucial to reaffirm ties with China amid an intractable war with Ukraine he seems increasingly unable to win, which is helping fuel rare signs of public dissatisfaction. The disagreement centers on whether this asymmetry represents a fundamental shift in the partnership or merely a cyclical imbalance. Left-leaning analysts argue that despite enormous and mounting losses for Russia, Putin has little to show for his war in Ukraine and the trends appear only to be worsening month by month, suggesting Russia's value to China will diminish. Right-leaning and centrist analysts counter that both nations share a structural interest in limiting US power, a multipolar vision that transcends cycles of military or economic fortune. China and Russia signalled a united front against Washington during a summit in Beijing, warning against a global return to the "law of the jungle." What remains unresolved is whether this partnership survives if Russia's military situation deteriorates further or if China concludes Ukraine's trajectory favors eventual Western victory.
Regional Perspective
Putin and Xi visited a photo exhibition on the history of Russian-Chinese relations organized in Beijing by TASS and Xinhua, emphasizing the narrative of continuous friendship. Russian and Chinese state media presented the visit as a natural reaffirmation of an unbreakable partnership, with TASS (Russia's state news agency) and Xinhua (China's state media) jointly curating exhibits to underscore historical continuity and current alignment. Al Jazeera's reporting from Beijing noted that energy security remained Putin's priority, with the station reporting that "since the war in Ukraine, any gas sales that were previously heading to Europe, that is all dried up, and Russia is in desperate need of revenue to replace that." The contrast between Russian and Chinese state messaging and Western coverage is stark. While Xinhua and TASS emphasized ceremonial parity, equality, and historical destiny, Russian and Chinese officials (including aide Yuri Ushakov) downplayed the significance of Trump's preceding visit, insisting Putin's trip was pre-planned and unrelated. Russian sources framed the partnership through the lens of shared civilizational values and multipolar world-building, while Western outlets—particularly Ukrainian media—emphasized Russia's military desperation and Putin's weakened hand. Chinese President Xi Jinping told US President Donald Trump during talks in Beijing last week that Russian leader Vladimir Putin may ultimately regret launching his full-scale invasion of Ukraine, according to the Financial Times, citing people familiar with the discussions. This detail, absent from Russian and Chinese official statements, reveals the gap between public ceremonial messaging and private diplomatic assessments.
