On the second day of his “trip of friendship, cooperation and peace” in Russia, Chinese President Xi Jinping was invited on Tuesday evening to a state dinner at the Kremlin. As an aperitif, he toasted, with Vladimir Putin, to the “prosperity” of the Russian and Chinese peoples. If an informal tete-a-tete was held on Monday between the two leaders, the discussions on Tuesday took a more official turn, with the signing of a joint declaration, of which here is what to remember.
A common hatred of the United States displayed
According to the joint statement signed by the Chinese and Russian presidents, the United States poses a danger to world peace. Indeed, Beijing and Moscow believe that the United States wants to “create a global missile defense system and deploy missiles in several countries around the world in order to maintain a unilateral military advantage”. Also, the press release is worried about the “reinforcement of the capacity of non-nuclear weapons of high precision” of which Washington would be guilty.
The threat of nuclear war recedes
While the nuclear threat was waved by Vladimir Putin as Western countries came to the aid of Ukraine, the Russian president is now adopting the language of China, worried about an irretrievable overflow. “The parties declare once again that there can be no winners in a nuclear war, and that the latter must never be started”, can we read in the joint text.
The Chinese peace plan dubbed by Putin
While Ukraine’s allies remain very reserved about the peace plan proposed by China, even accusing Beijing of considering the delivery of arms to Russia, Vladimir Putin indicated that the Chinese initiative could “serve as a basis to a peaceful resolution of the conflict”, but that the Westerners rejected it, no progress could take place. “We are not currently observing such a disposition on their side”, he added, alongside his counterpart, who, for his part, stressed that Beijing was “for peace and dialogue”. in Ukraine. In addition, the Russian president also threatened to “retaliate” if London provided Ukraine with shells containing depleted uranium, as was mentioned by a British official.
A Russian-Chinese gas pipeline project to forget Nord Stream
In the economic field, the two countries have entered into a major partnership. Anxious to find new outlets for hydrocarbons, which the Europeans no longer want, Vladimir Putin signed an agreement with Xi Jinping on the realization of a gigantic gas pipeline project, called “Siberian Force 2”. It will allow Russia to supply China with 50 billion cubic meters of additional gas per year, while the Nord Stream gas pipeline is shut down. The objective is to deliver to its Chinese ally, by 2030, at least 98 billion cubic meters of gas and 100 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas. This Tuesday, the Russian gas giant Gazprom also announced that it had delivered, the day before, a “record” quantity of gas via the cross-border gas pipeline “Force of Siberia”.
Putin also said he was “ready to create a joint working body for the development of the Northern Sea Route”, one of the routes through the frozen waters of the Arctic, now more easily navigable due to the melting of the ice cream. Moscow hopes that this route will eventually increase the transport of hydrocarbons to Asia, especially those produced in the Russian Arctic, by connecting the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic oceans. The Russian president also said he was convinced that his country’s trade with China “will exceed the threshold of 200 billion dollars”, which would constitute a new record after that of 2022 (185 billion).