Russian and Chinese presidents will meet in Samarkand, Uzbekistan on Sept. 15-16 for a regional summit, Russian diplomacy said on Wednesday, a first foreign trip for Xi Jinping since the pandemic began.
“In less than 10 days, a new meeting of our leaders (Vladimir Putin and Xi) will take place at the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization,” announced Russian Ambassador to Beijing Andrei Denissov, quoted by Russian authorities. Novosti and Tass.
Built to counter Western influence, this organization unites China, Russia, four Central Asian states (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan), as well as India and Pakistan.
“This summit promises to be interesting because it will be the first real (face-to-face, editor’s note) summit since the pandemic,” the Russian diplomat noted.
Beijing has not yet announced the trip of the Chinese president, who has not left his country since 2020 and the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
MM. Xi and Putin met in China in early February 2022, a few weeks before the Russian offensive against Ukraine. Moscow and Beijing then signed a joint statement calling for a “new era” in international relations, an end to American hegemony and denouncing the role of the Western military alliances NATO and AUKUS (Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States).
Since the Russian attack, Beijing has shown its support for Russia, which has been hit by Western sanctions on all sides. In search of support, outlets and suppliers, Moscow says it is turning to Asia.
President Putin therefore on Wednesday hailed the “increasing role” of the Asia-Pacific region in world affairs in the face of a West in decline. He considered it “impossible” to isolate Russia.