Xi welcomes Putin in Beijing, signals defiance of U.S. influence

Xi Jinping gave Vladimir Putin a conspicuously warm welcome in Beijing, a display that made China’s balancing act unmistakable and signaled that Beijing is still prepared to defy Washington on the global stage. The two leaders met at the Great Hall of the People on May 20, with Putin’s two-day visit running from May 19 to May 20, only days after Xi had hosted President Donald Trump in the same city.

Xi cast China-Russia ties as a stabilizing force, calling them “calm amid chaos,” while warning against “unilateral and hegemonic countercurrents” in the international system. The language was widely read as a swipe at the United States, and the staging underscored the point: Putin received a state welcome, with ceremonial treatment that contrasted sharply with the optics of Xi’s earlier meeting with Trump.

The summit produced tangible signs of alignment. The two sides signed about 20 agreements spanning trade, technology, media and energy, and they extended their treaty of “friendly cooperation.” That matters because it shows the relationship is not just rhetorical. Beijing and Moscow are still deepening the institutional framework that supports trade flows, communications ties and long-term strategic coordination.

At the same time, the partnership still has limits. BBC and AP reporting said the two governments did not announce final details on a long-discussed gas-pipeline project, even though Moscow said an “understanding” had been reached. That leaves the energy relationship close, but not frictionless, with the most consequential commercial prize still unresolved.

For Russia’s war effort, the Beijing trip offered less a battlefield breakthrough than a diplomatic one. The Institute for the Study of War has described its Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment as a daily intelligence estimate of Putin’s political and military objectives since February 2022, and the latest Moscow-Beijing choreography suggests the Kremlin is still working to secure strategic depth outside the West as the war grinds on. The immediate implication is not that Russia has gained decisive momentum in Ukraine, but that Moscow continues to find political cover and economic options in Beijing, a development that could complicate Western efforts to isolate the Kremlin, sustain Ukrainian defenses and shape any diplomatic timeline on terms favorable to Kyiv.