Kremlin confirms Putin’s plans to visit China in 2020
Russian President Vladimir Putin does intend to visit China in 2020, Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed to RIA Novosti, commenting on a statement by China’s Vice Foreign Minister.
The fact that China is expecting a visit from Putin next year was mentioned previously by Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng in a statement published by the Chinese Foreign Ministry. He noted that the Russian and Chinese leaders have met on several occasions in recent times, the most recent being an encounter in Brazil.
Le Yucheng also said that Chinese President Xi Jinping will travel to Russia in 2020 for the BRICS summit and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit. He remarked that China’s resolve to strengthen its cooperation with Russia remains unchanged.
On November 25, Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov announced that Putin and Xi Jinping would be participating in the opening ceremony of the Force of Siberia gas pipeline via teleconference. Peskov said that the leaders had agreed to this while they were in Brazil for the BRICS summit between November 13 and 15 (BRICS is an association between Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa).
After meeting with Xi Jinping on November 13, Putin said that Moscow and Beijing’s strong ties are “not amenable to external influence”, and described the two countries’ relations as a strategic partnership. At the end of the summit, the Russian leader said that Russia and China plan to increase their trade volume to $200 billion per year, and pointed out that they reached their previous goal of $100 billion per year ahead of schedule.