RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin focused on trade and cultural exchanges on Friday on his State visit to China that started with bonhomie in Beijing and a summit with China’s leader Xi Jinping that deepened their “no-limits” partnership as both countries face rising tensions with the West. Putin will attend the China-Russia Expo in the north-eastern city of Harbin and meet with students at Harbin Institute of Technology. Harbin, capital of China’s Heilongjiang province, was once home to many Russian expatriates and retains some of these historical ties in the city’s architecture, such as the central Saint Sophia Cathedral, a former Russian Orthodox church.

 

Though Putin’s visit is more symbolic and short on concrete proposals, the two countries, which both face rising tensions with the West, nonetheless are sending a clear message. “At this moment, they’re reminding the West that they can be defiant when they want to,” said Joseph Torigian, a research fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institute. At their summit on Thursday, Putin thanked Xi for China’s proposals for ending the war in Ukraine, while Xi said China hopes for the early return of Europe to peace and stability and will continue to play a constructive role toward this. Their joint statement explicated their world view and expounded on criticism of US military alliances in Asia and the Pacific.