- ONE AMERICA NEWS - Brooke Mallory - MAR 20, 2023 -
Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping met at the Kremlin on the first day of a state visit that Beijing was hosting as a peacemaking initiative, despite strong skepticism in Kyiv and the West.
They praised the close connections and strategic visions shared by both China and Russia.
This news comes a few days after the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, charged the Russian president with war crimes in Ukraine and issued an arrest warrant for him.
Xi made his first public appearance since Moscow began its official invasion of Ukraine last year.
The topic of Ukraine came up frequently during Xi’s visit, which was documented and closely watched for any potential effects on the ongoing conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives and sparked severe humanitarian calamity.
“In the last few years, China has made a colossal leap forward… In the whole world, this evokes interest, and unfortunately even envy,” Putin told Xi on Monday.
“Under your leadership, Russia’s development has substantially improved,” Xi responded as he addressed Putin as his “dear friend.”
In an effort to position itself as a major advocate for the conflict’s resolution, Beijing had framed the trip as a “tour of friendship, cooperation, and peace” by China.
In spite of widespread criticism of the Russian president’s war, Xi’s visit was viewed in some Western capitals as an evident support of Putin.
Top US Diplomat Antony Blinken (D-N.Y.) said that the visit showed China’s intention to “diplomatically cover” Russia’s atrocities in the Ukrainian war.
“That President Xi is traveling to Russia days after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for President Putin suggests that China feels no responsibility to hold the Kremlin accountable for the atrocities committed in Ukraine, and instead of even condemning them, it would rather provide diplomatic cover for Russia to continue to commit those very crimes,” proclaimed Blinken, regarding the release of the 2022 Human Rights Report at a U.S. State Department conference.