KAZAN: Chinese President Xi Jinping told Russia’s Vladimir Putin that the international situation was gripped by chaos but that Beijing’s strategic partnership with Moscow was a force for stability amid the most significant changes seen in a century.

“At present, the world is going through changes unseen in a hundred years, the international situation is intertwined with chaos,” Xi told Putin in the Russian city of Kazan at the opening of the Brics summit, on Tuesday.

“But I firmly believe that the friendship between China and Russia will continue for generations, and great countries responsibility to their people will not change.”

Putin called Xi “dear friend” and said the partnership with China was a force for stability in the world. “Russian-Chinese cooperation in world affairs is one of the main stabilising factors on the world stage”.

Brics summit begins; UN chief expected to meet Russian president tomorrow

“We intend to further enhance coordination on all multilateral platforms in order to ensure global security and a just world order.”

Xi said cooperation in the Brics group was “the most important platform for solidarity and cooperation between emerging market countries and developing countries in the world today.”

He said it was “a mainstay force in promoting the realization of equal and orderly global multipolarity, as well as inclusive and tolerant economic globalisation.”

The two leaders also discussed the conflict in Ukraine behind closed doors, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told state media, while providing no details. “There was an exchange of opinions on Ukraine,” he said, adding that in general, on the international agenda, there was a significant convergence of positions.

Ukraine has heavily criticised China for backing Putin, accusing Beijing of supporting and enabling Moscow’s offensive.

Ukraine’s foreign ministry also slammed the planned meeting of UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres with Putin on Thursday. Guterres’s deputy spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters Tuesday the UN chief planned to meet with a “large number” of the leaders in Kazan.

Asked about talks with Putin, he said Guterres would “reaffirm his well-known positions” on the Ukraine conflict and outline “the conditions for just peace”.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who has also urged an end to the conflict, praised Moscow as a “valued ally” and friend in his meeting with Putin.

“We continue to see Russia as a valued ally, as a valued friend, who supported us right from the beginning: from the days of our struggle against Apartheid, right through to now,” Ramaphosa said.

In a series of bilateral talks on Tuesday, including with Xi and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Putin hailed Moscow’s close ties and “strategic partnerships” with its chosen partners, though concerns over Ukraine offensive loomed over the event.

Modi, who is casting himself as a possible peacemaker, called for a quick end to the conflict during televised talks with Putin. “We have been in constant touch over the conflict between Russia and Ukraine,” Modi told Putin after the two shook hands and embraced.

“We believe that disputes should only be resolved peacefully. We totally support efforts to quickly restore peace and stability,” he added.

Separate talks between Putin and his Turkish counterpart and Iranian counterparts are planned for Wednesday.

Among the topics on the official agenda will be the escalating conflict in the

Middle East as well as Putin’s idea for a Brics-led payment system to rival SWIFT, an international financial network that Russian banks were cut off from in

2022. The United States has dismissed the idea that Brics could become a “geopolitical rival”.

Published in Dawn, October 23th, 2024