Putin’s Negotiations With Xi Jinping: Main Failure Details Revealed

China is ending support for Russia.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping offered a cut vision of bilateral relations unexpected by the Kremlin during the meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on March 20.

RBC-Ukraine reported with reference to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

“China-Russia relations were presented as solid during Xi and Putin meeting on March 20, but articles published on March 19 offered different interpretations of the scope of the future relationship,” the analysts explain.

The report reads that Putin offered a term providing that Russia and China are "building a partnership to shape a multipolar world order in defiance of the collective aspirations of Western dominance and the US policy of dual containment against China and the Russian Federation".

In turn, Xi proposed a less aggressive main goal for Russia-China relations. He noted that Russia and China in general seek a multipolar world order, but not specifically against the West.

At the same time, Xi Jinping focused on presenting China as an exterior mediator in Russia's war against Ukraine, whose negotiating plan "reflects the unity of the world community's views on overcoming the Ukrainian crisis".

Putin wrote that Russia welcomed China's willingness to "play a constructive role in resolving the crisis" regarding the war against Ukraine, likely hoping that Xi would take a similarly aggressive rhetorical line against the West.

“Xi Jinping’s refusal to align China with Russia in the geopolitical conflict that Putin envisions with the West is a marked departure from China’s declared ‘limitless partnership’ with Russia ahead of its invasion of Ukraine,” the ISW said.

According to experts, Xi's rhetoric indicates that he "does not want to provide Putin with full economic and political support and that Russia needs to overcome failures in Ukraine."

The Institute for the Study of War adds that Putin and Xi have offered somewhat similar visions of strengthening the China-Russia economic partnership, and it is possible that they will sign bilateral trade and economic agreements, some of which will be aimed at facilitating sanctions avoidance schemes.

“Xi will also offer a more specific proposal to resolve the war in Ukraine through negotiations, although it remains unclear what his proposal will mean and how much the Kremlin will take it. The prospects for the supply of weapons by China to Russia also remain unclear,” the analysts summed up.