Xi Jinping

Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russia's Vladimir Putin and leaders from India and Central Asian nations headed to Uzbekistan on Thursday for a summit of a security group formed by Beijing and Moscow as a counterweight to U.S. influence.

The Kremlin on Tuesday hailed the significance of Russian President Vladimir Putin's planned meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping this week, noting that it's particularly important amid tensions with the West.

President Xi Jinping is using his first trip abroad since the start of the pandemic to promote China's strategic ambitions at a summit with Russia's Vladimir Putin and other leaders of a Central Asian security group.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met today in Indonesia in an attempt to calm tensions between the two world powers, AFP reported.

Xi remains committed to close ties with Russia

President Xi Jinping has offered state backing for tech, infrastructure and jobs to revive China's economy, but analysts warn growth will continue to wilt until Beijing drops its rigid virus controls.    

Two and a half years since the coronavirus first emerged in Wuhan, China is the last major economy still closed off to the world, despite its relatively low death toll.    

Anti-virus controls that have shut down some of China's biggest cities and fueled public irritation are spreading as infections rise, hurting a weak economy and prompting warnings of possible global shockwaves.

Russia is ready to send a delegation for talks with Ukraine in Minsk. This was announced by the spokesman of Russian President Vladimir Putin - Dmitry Peskov, on Friday, BTA reports.

Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also said he was ready for talks. He called on his Russian counterpart to sit down at the negotiating table to stop the loss of human lives.

Vui, who is on a two-day visit to China, posted photos of the meeting on his Instagram account.
"This is the seventh official meeting with the President of the People's Republic of China Xi Jinping. It is important for us to continue to build good relations and for our cooperation to grow in all areas," he wrote.

In a joint statement today, Russia and China called on NATO to stop expanding, and Moscow said it fully supported Beijing on the Taiwan issue and opposed the idea of ​​Taiwan's independence in any form, Reuters reported.