Xi, Putin extend 25-year treaty, deepen strategic partnership

Chinese President Xi Jinping hosted Russian President Vladimir Putin in Beijing on Wednesday for a summit that underscored the deepening strategic partnership between the two powers, coming just days after US President Donald Trump visited the Chinese capital. The back-to-back summits highlighted China's diplomatic balancing act between Washington and Moscow, as Xi warned against the risk of regression to "jungle law" in global affairs and stressed the need for "back-to-back" strategic coordination with Russia. The leaders agreed to extend their 25-year-old Treaty of Good-Neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation, which Xi said has proven increasingly relevant amid profound international changes. Putin described bilateral ties as being at an "unprecedented level," praising the partnership as "exemplary" and vowing to enhance the well-being of both nations. During the summit, both leaders emphasized their shared vision of a multipolar world order as an alternative to Western hegemony. Xi reiterated his commitment to deepening "high-quality comprehensive strategic coordination" with Russia, calling Putin "dear friend" in a gesture laden with diplomatic symbolism, while Putin invoked a Chinese proverb to describe their renewed meeting and promised continued cooperation within multilateral platforms like the BRICS grouping. The talks focused heavily on energy cooperation, particularly negotiations over the Power of Siberia 2 gas pipeline project, which would transport up to 50 billion cubic meters of Russian gas annually to China through Mongolia. Russia, facing Western sanctions and seeking to replace European export markets lost since the invasion of Ukraine, views the project as essential, while China maintains negotiating leverage as its partner grows increasingly dependent on Beijing. The timing of Putin's visit carried particular significance, arriving just days after Trump departed Beijing, with both leaders traversing Tiananmen Square's Great Hall of the People within the same week. Reuters reported separately that China secretly trained approximately 200 Russian military personnel at facilities in Beijing and Nanjing late last year under a bilateral agreement signed in July, with some subsequently returning to fight in Ukraine. Additionally, US President Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to visit Russia in the near future, according to Kremlin officials, amid ongoing efforts to negotiate an end to the Ukraine conflict. Bilateral trade between Russia and China has become increasingly insulated from Western financial systems, with over 99 percent of commerce now settled in yuan and rubles following Moscow's expulsion from the SWIFT banking network.