Xi touts ties with Russia in Putin call after Trump sworn in

Foster Wong, Bloomberg News on Jan 21, 2025

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Chinese leader Xi Jinping hailed his country’s ties with Russia during a video call with Vladimir Putin a day after Donald Trump’s inauguration as U.S. president, signaling a resolve to deepen their alliance.

Xi said he’s willing to work with his Russian counterpart to take bilateral relations to new heights, vowing to leverage the resilience and stability of the ties to respond to “external uncertainties,” the official Xinhua News Agency reported Tuesday.

The two leaders spoke a day after Trump was sworn in for a second time. Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said the call, which lasted 95 minutes, was planned in December and had no connection with Trump’s inauguration, Interfax reported.

Still, the exchange between them suggests Beijing and Moscow will look to present a united front in confronting the second Trump administration. The two leaders declared a “no-limits friendship” just weeks before Putin launched his 2022 invasion of Ukraine, with China since then becoming a diplomatic and economic lifeline for Russia after the U.S. and its allies imposed sweeping sanctions.

A separate report from the state-run RIA Novosti quoted Ushakov as saying that Xi had briefed Putin on his Friday call with Trump, and that both China and Russia are open to dialogue with the U.S. president on the war in Ukraine “if appropriate signals come from Washington.”

“Both sides should deepen strategic coordination, firm up mutual support and safeguard the legitimate interests of the two countries,” Xinhua cited Xi as saying. The Chinese president also touted growing bilateral trade and agreed to maintain strategic communication, the news service said.

Russia’s trade with China in the first 11 months of last year grew 7% and exceeded $220 billion, despite “negative external circumstances,” Putin said during the call.

Putin also invited Xi to attend Russia’s Victory Day parade in Moscow on May 9, an annual celebration of the Soviet defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, according to Interfax.

The Russian and Chinese leaders met several times in 2024 and have said that relations are “at their best in history.” They have also vowed to intensify cooperation against U.S. “containment” and seek a larger role for the Global South on the world stage.

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(With assistance from Vladimir Kuznetsov and Josh Xiao.)

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