Global Courant 2023-05-23 08:44:00
SHANGHAI — Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has arrived in China for a visit during which he will meet President Xi Jinping and sign a series of deals on infrastructure and trade.
Mishustin landed in Shanghai late Monday, where he was greeted at the airport by Moscow’s ambassador to China, Igor Morgulov, and Beijing’s top diplomat to Russia, Mr. Zhang Hanhui.
He will participate in a Russian-Chinese business forum and visit a petrochemical research institute in Shanghai, the Kremlin said, and hold talks with “representatives of Russian business circles”.
That forum has invited a number of sanctioned Russian tycoons, including from key fertilizer, steel and mining sectors, as well as Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, who deals with energy issues, Bloomberg reported.
China became Russia’s largest energy customer in 2022, whose gas exports had otherwise plummeted after a spate of Western sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine.
Mishustin will then travel to Beijing, where he will meet with Xi and Prime Minister Li Qiang, Russian state media Tass said.
China and Russia have stepped up their economic cooperation and diplomatic contacts in recent years, with their strategic partnership only growing closer since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Although China claims to be a neutral party in that war, it has refused to condemn Russia for the invasion.
In February, Beijing released a document calling for a “political solution” to the conflict that Western countries said could allow Russia to keep much of the territory it seized in Ukraine .
At a summit in Moscow in March, Mr Xi invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to visit Beijing.
Analysts say China has the upper hand in relations with Russia, and its influence is growing as Moscow’s international isolation deepens. AFP
