Putin to Visit China a Week After Trump’s Trip to Beijing

The Kremlin announced on Saturday that Russian President Vladimir Putin will travel to Beijing on Tuesday and Wednesday to meet with Chinese dictator Xi Jinping, less than a week after President Donald Trump’s high-profile meeting with Xi.

The Kremlin made the announcement less than 24 hours after Trump returned home to the United States from his meeting with Xi. The Russian government claimed the close timing of the meetings was coincidental, and Putin’s trip was intended to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the Sino-Russian Treaty of Friendship, signed by Putin with Xi’s predecessor Jiang Zemin on July 16, 2001.

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The 2001 document – formally known as the Treaty for Good Neighborliness, Friendship, and Cooperation – was the first agreement signed by Russia and China since Joseph Stalin signed a treaty with Mao Zedong in 1950.

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