President Putin to make a state visit to China this week

Russian President Vladimir Putin will make a two-day state visit to China this week, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.

Putin will meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping during his visit starting on Thursday, it said.

The Kremlin in a statement confirmed the trip and said Putin was going on Xi’s invitation. It said that this will be Putin’s first foreign trip since he was sworn in as president and began his fifth term in office.

China has backed Russia politically in the conflict in Ukraine and has continued to export machine tools and other items  to help Russia . However unlike Western Europe and USA who are aiming Ukraine ,  China  is not exporting weapons to Russia .

Just like India , China is also a major export market for energy supplies that purchases  the  much cheaper Russian oil . China’s Foreign Ministry said Xi would discuss with Putin “cooperation in various fields of bilateral relations … as well as international and regional issues of common concern.”

China has sought to project itself as a neutral party in the conflict, but has declared a “no limits” relationship with Russia .   The sides have also held a series of joint military drills and China has consistently opposed unilateral third party economic sanctions against Russia in response to its now two-year-old  conflict against NATO’s expansion into  Ukraine.

The two continent-sized  states ,  along with India  and the  USA now make this World a multipolar one .So China and Russia    are increasingly in dispute with USA  and NATO, in seeking  to gain influence in Africa, the Middle East and South America.