Xi Jinping said China was ready with Russia “to stand guard over the world order based on international law” as he landed in Moscow for a state visit days after Vladimir Putin was made the subject of an arrest warrant by the international criminal court.
According to the Guardian, The Chinese leader is expected to position himself as a potential peacemaker in the Ukraine war during his first state visit to Russia since Putin’s invasion. For his part, the Russian president will be hoping to project unity in the face of western isolation.
A military brass band greeted Xi at Moscow’s Vnukovo airport, where he was welcomed by Russia’s deputy prime minister for tourism, sport, culture and communications, Dmitri Chernyshenko.
“I am very glad, at the invitation of President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, to come back to the land of our close neighbour on a state visit,” Xi said upon arrival, according to Russia’s state-run Tass news agency. “I am confident the visit will be fruitful and give new momentum to the healthy and stable development of Chinese-Russian relations.”
Xi added that together with Russia, China was “ready to resolutely defend the UN-centric international system, stand guard over the world order based on international law”. The two leaders spoke briefly to the press on Monday at the Kremlin before an “informal meeting”.
“We have thoroughly studied your proposals on regulating the acute crisis in Ukraine. Of course, we will have an opportunity to discuss them,” Putin told Xi, referring to China’s peace plan for dealing with the war in Ukraine. “We are always open to negotiations,” the Russian leader added.
Xi in turn praised Putin’s “strong leadership” and said he was sure the Russian people would support him in the presidential elections next year.
The Russian leader has not yet formally announced he is running for president and the Kremlin on Monday was quick to deny Xi had inside knowledge about Putin’s plans.
On Monday evening, the two leaders will have a six-course meal that includes Russian crepes with quail and mushrooms and fish and pomegranate sorbet, according to a menu published by a state media journalist. Formal talks were scheduled for Tuesday, the Kremlin said.
Xi’s visit comes three days after Putin was made the subject of an arrest warrant by the international criminal court for overseeing the abduction of Ukrainian children, sending Russia another significant step on the path to becoming a pariah state, and two days after he made a surprise visit to the occupied city of Mariupol in an apparent show of defiance towards the court and the west in general.
In a further symbolic gesture of defiance, Russia’s investigative committee said on Monday that it had opened a criminal case against the ICC prosecutor and judges who issued the warrant.
During a media briefing on Monday, the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin called on the ICC to avoid “politicisation and double standards”.
