Top Shot – Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) gives directions to Russian President Vladimir Putin after a photo shoot at the 2025 Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit held at Meijiang Convention and Exhibition Center in Tianjin on September 1, 2025.
Takekuma Suo | AFP | Getty Images
Russian President Vladimir Putin is scheduled to arrive in Beijing on Tuesday for a two-day summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, visiting an ally that he had little time to unwind from the ceremonial trap he laid for US President Donald Trump days earlier.
The summit, scheduled for May 19 and 20, will be the second meeting between Chinese and Russian leaders in the past year, as Beijing seeks to manage its relations with the United States and Russia while positioning itself as a pivotal power in global diplomacy. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 effectively isolated Moscow, leaving it heavily dependent on China for trade under Western sanctions.
“We have very serious expectations for this visit,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday, explaining that the agenda was to advance the two countries’ “privileged and strategic partnership.”
The United States has long pressured Beijing to cut economic aid to Russia, which Western officials say helps maintain Russia’s military power. NATO has identified China as a “decisive factor” in the Ukraine war because Chinese companies supply munitions used to replenish Russian munitions.
“Strategic Triangle”
Andrius Tursa, a Central and Eastern Europe advisor at consulting firm Teneo, said China had “strong influence” at the summit, with China’s support becoming increasingly important to Putin given growing economic pressure in Russia and military setbacks in Ukraine.
The Kremlin lowered its growth forecast for this year to 0.4% from 1.3%, as the economy is reeling from Ukrainian attacks on oil infrastructure and export terminals that support Russia’s war financing and uncertainty over the future of U.S. sanctions relief.
Dennis Wilder, a former U.S. intelligence official and Georgetown University professor, said Putin will seek reassurance that improved relations between China and the United States will not change the “strategic triangle” that keeps China and Russia closer together than the United States.
President Trump’s visit last week included a lavish state dinner and several accomplishments, including $17 billion in annual agricultural purchases through 2028, an order for 200 planes from Boeing Co., and a September meeting with Chinese leaders in Washington.
In contrast, Putin’s visit is expected to be more pragmatic, as part of daily dealings between the two countries, Tursa said. However, he added that the size and composition of the Russian delegation suggests that Putin wants to expand bilateral cooperation across multiple areas.
Chinese state media did not care and accepted the view of the consecutive visits. The Global Times said the incident was evidence of China’s “rapid emergence as a focal point of global diplomacy” and said hosting the leaders of the United States and Russia within a week was “highly unusual in the post-Cold War era.”
The U.S. government will be watching closely to see what emerges.
“If there’s a lot of aid from China to Russia, the U.S. will probably complain about it,” Asia Group Managing Partner Kurt Tong told CNBC’s China Connection on Monday.
energy trading
Energy is expected to dominate the agenda. China has become the largest buyer of Russian oil and gas, buying Russian supplies at deep discounts as demand from Europe falls to its lowest level since the mid-1970s.
With the closure of the Strait of Hormuz raising concerns about energy security across Asia, Beijing has a new incentive to secure supplies from Russia, while Moscow needs revenue to keep its economy afloat.
President Putin suggested last week that Russia was close to a “serious” gas and oil deal with China. “The agreement to make serious and very substantial progress in the gas and oil sector is at a very advanced stage,” Putin told a news conference, adding: “I would be very happy if it turns out that it is possible to finalize the agreement and put the finishing touches on it (during my visit to China).”
Analysts say Chinese investments in Russia’s state sector will also be considered. Bilateral trade has soared to record levels since 2022, with China absorbing more than a quarter of Russia’s exports.
