Russian President Vladimir Putin will travel to Beijing on Tuesday and Wednesday to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping [1].
The timing of the visit is significant because it follows a high-level summit between President Xi and U.S. President Donald Trump in the same city.
Putin is scheduled to spend Tuesday and Wednesday in China [1]. The announcement of the trip came one day after Trump returned from his own summit with Xi [2]. Other reports indicate the visit occurs four days after Trump's trip to Beijing [3].
The meeting between the Russian and Chinese leaders comes at a moment of intense diplomatic activity in the region. By coordinating a visit so closely after the U.S. delegation's departure, the two nations may be seeking to align their strategic interests in response to the outcomes of the Trump-Xi talks.
Both leaders are expected to discuss bilateral relations, and global security. The proximity of these visits suggests a desire for rapid communication between Moscow and Beijing regarding the current state of U.S.-China relations.
While the exact interval between the two visits varies by report, ranging from one day after Trump's return [2] to four days after the initial visit [3], the core objective remains a direct consultation between Putin and Xi.
“Russian President Vladimir Putin will travel to Beijing on Tuesday and Wednesday to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping.”
The rapid succession of visits by the leaders of the US and Russia to Beijing underscores China's role as a central diplomatic hub. By meeting with Xi Jinping immediately after the U.S. President, Putin is likely attempting to gauge the results of the Trump summit and ensure that Russian interests are not sidelined by any new agreements between Washington and Beijing.
