MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet next week at a summit in Uzbekistan, a Russian official said. Two leaders will meet at Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit, held in Uzbek city of Samarkand on September 15-16, Russian Ambassador to China Andrei Denisov told reporters.

“Less than 10 days from now another meeting of our leaders will take place at SCO summit in Samarkand. We are actively preparing for it,” Denisov was quoted by Russia’s state news agency Tass as saying. While offering its tacit support for Russia’s campaign in Ukraine, China has sought to appear neutral and avoid possible repercussions from supporting Russian economy amid international sanctions. Moscow and Beijing have increasingly aligned their foreign policies to oppose liberal democratic forces in Asia, Europe and beyond, making a stand for authoritarian rule with tight borders and little regard for free speech, minority rights or opposition politics. Russian military earlier this week announced sweeping military drills in country’s east that will involve forces from China, another show of increasingly close ties between Moscow and Beijing amid tensions with West over military action in Ukraine. He has noted that Russia has been sharing highly sensitive military technologies with China that helped significantly bolster its defense capability.–Agencies

Published in The Daily National Courier, September, 08 2022

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