Xi Jinping: A New Perspective on Strategic Cooperation and Cold War Correlations — Moscow, China and the BRI Project —

Xi visited Moscow in March as part of a flurry of exchanges between the countries. China has condemned international sanctions imposed on Russia, but hasn’t directly addressed an arrest warrant issued for Putin by the International Criminal Court, which charges him with involvement in the abduction of thousands of children from Ukraine.

Cold War rivals China and Russia have formed a partnership in economic, military and diplomatic spheres.

Putin’s plane was met by an honor guard as the Russian leader began his visit that is also a show of support for Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s signature “Belt and Road” initiative to build infrastructure and expand China’s overseas influence.

Some people think it’s an attempt by the People’s Republic of China to put someone under it’s thumb, but he says it’s just a desire for cooperation.

Putin will be among the highest profile guests at a gathering marking the 10th anniversary of Xi’s announcement of the BRI project, which has laden countries such as Zambia and Sri Lanka with heavy debt from contracts with Chinese companies to build roads, airports and other public works they could not otherwise afford. The Chinese policy brought development to neglected areas according to the UN Secretary-General.

Putin said he and Xi would also discuss growing economic ties between Moscow and Beijing in energy, high-tech and financial industries. China has also grown in importance as an export destination for Russia.

He also downplayed the impact of China’s economic influence in a region that Russia has long considered its backyard and where it has worked to maintain political and military clout.

Alexander Gabuev, director of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, said that Russia is a safe neighbor that is friendly, that is a source of cheap raw materials, and that is also a source of support for Chinese initiatives on the global stage.

“Both countries are self-sufficient in terms of security and they benefit from partnering, but neither really requires a security guarantee from the other. And they preach strategic autonomy,” he said.

“There will be no military alliance, but there will be closer military cooperation, more interoperability, more cooperation on projecting force together, including in places like the Arctic and more joint effort to develop a missile defense that makes the U.S. nuclear planning and planning of the U.S. and its allies in Asia and in Europe more complicated,” he added.

Beijing’s 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative: The United Dream of a World without Walls, but with a Window Open for Co-operation

But Wang Huiyao, the founder and president of the Center for China and Globalization think tank in Beijing, says China is the only major country left with a window open for communication with Putin, and it doesn’t want to lose that.

Western nations have criticized Beijing for failing to condemn Putin’s war in Ukraine — and some may see Putin’s participation in the BRI gathering as a sign of a relationship that has deepened since the two sides declared it to have “no limits” on the eve of the Ukraine invasion, in February 2022.

China says there are leaders from 130 countries and at least 30 global organizations that will attend the event.

BEIJING — Representatives from dozens of countries are gathering in Beijing this week to mark the 10th anniversary of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a signature foreign policy initiative for China’s leader, Xi Jinping.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is on hand. The Hungarian Prime Minister is in town. The Taliban, who are not officially recognized by any government, say they are also coming.

More than 150 countries have signed agreements under the auspices of the BRI since its inception a decade ago. There have been several controversies surrounding the Chinese initiative.

When it was launched in 2013, an aim was to remove divisions between East and West, according to Una Aleksandra Berzina-Cerenkova, director of the China Studies Center at Riga Stradins University in Latvia.

“Belt and Road was about connecting to Europe, was about creating these links, reviving the old Silk Road,” she says. The Belt and Road became clear as the years went on that it was also a geopolitics project and not just an economic project.

Although Chinese state-run companies have made significant investments in Europe, including in some critical shipping ports, some countries have been resistant to the project.

China has pivoted, focusing more on wooing the developing countries of the so-called “global South,” including in Africa and Latin America, Berzina-Cerenkova says. And as China-U.S. relations deteriorated in recent years, Beijing’s efforts intensified.

Through the Belt and Road, China has projected itself as one of the few countries putting development back on the table in international forums, and it’s noticeable that Beijing’s modus vivendi has set itself apart from democracies such as the United States, says Hong Zhang, a researcher at Harvard Kennedy School, who studies China’s international development engagements.

The European Commission introduced an international investment program in 2021, called the Global Gateway. Last year, the U.S. launched its Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment at the Group of Seven summit. And last month, Washington provided its endorsement to the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor initiative.

The amount of money going into the Belt and Road Initiative is stagnant or slipped because of China’s slowing economic growth. At this time of the year, debt-laden countries are going through debt restructuring.

China is a large creditor. Over the last three years, a NewYork based research firm has found that over $78 billion worth of borrowing had turned sour.

Some pundits have questioned the Belt and Road Initiative’s future. But this week’s two-day gathering in Beijing shows that the political significance of Xi’s signature project remains potent.