Key insights
- Xi and Putin met, criticizing U.S. missile defense plans and discussing their partnership. While no major energy deals were finalized, they expressed concerns about U.S. global influence and strategic stability. Russia seeks Chinese chips for its AI model due to Western sanctions. The US market impact is slightly negative due to increased geopolitical uncertainty.
Investing.com -- Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin met on Wednesday to discuss their comprehensive partnership and expressed criticism of U.S. President Donald Trump's Golden Dome project, though no major breakthrough was announced on a planned natural gas pipeline.
Putin received an honor guard and gun salute at the Great Hall of the People, with children waving Chinese and Russian flags. The meeting came days after Xi hosted Trump in Beijing with similar ceremonial reception.
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Following the talks, the two leaders signed a 9,935-word joint statement covering topics including nuclear security, Taiwan, and wildlife conservation. Another 20 documents were signed on subjects ranging from sanitary norms to nuclear energy. No major deals between the two countries had been finalized at the time of writing.
The Kremlin said a general understanding on the Power of Siberia 2 natural gas pipeline had been reached, but key details and a timeline for the project still need to be agreed upon. The pipeline would transport gas from northern Siberia to China via Mongolia. Russia and China have been negotiating the project for years, with pricing and other issues remaining unresolved.
In a joint declaration, Russia and China stated that attempts by some countries to dominate global affairs in a colonial spirit had failed, warning that the world faces a potential return to the law of the jungle. The two nations said Trump's Golden Dome missile defense shield plans threatened strategic stability and criticized Washington for not working on a replacement for a landmark nuclear treaty.
Additionally, Sberbank CEO German Gref said Russia hopes to power its GigaChat AI model with Chinese-made chips as Western sanctions continue blocking Russia's access to advanced hardware.
China is Russia's largest trading partner with around $240 billion in trade, according to Russian figures, and is the biggest purchaser of Russian crude. Russia ranks as China's fifth largest trading partner after the United States, Japan, Korea and Vietnam, according to the Kremlin.