Xi promotes China as peacemaker on first trip to Russia since Ukraine invasion

Frustrated by what it sees as the United States’ determination to thwart its rise as a global superpower, China is pushing ahead with efforts to promote a new international order that has Beijing at its center.

In recent weeks, China has spoken more robustly about the prospect of conflict unless the U.S. changes course and reveled in a major diplomatic victory in the Middle East. Now its leader, Xi Jinping, is traveling to Moscow on Monday to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, signaling Beijing’s growing embrace of its rising power on the global stage and the potential for it to further deepen conflict with the U.S. and its allies.

Xi’s visit to Russia, his first since Putin’s invasion of Ukraine last February, could serve as an even greater show of solidarity after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for the Russian leader on Friday, accusing him of being responsible for war crimes in Ukraine. Neither Russia, China nor the U.S. is a member of the court.

In an article published Sunday in People’s Daily, the ruling Chinese Communist Party’s flagship newspaper, Putin said he had high hopes for the visit by his “good old friend” Xi, with whom he declared a “no limits” partnership weeks before the invasion of Ukraine last year. The Russian leader, who made a defiant visit to occupied eastern Ukraine over the weekend, also welcomed China’s willingness to make a “meaningful contribution” in solving the conflict.