• Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin held their first face-to-face meeting since Putin’s Ukraine invasion.
• Xi called on China and Russia to “strengthen coordination” within the SCO, other multilateral mechanisms.
• The goal will be to “provide stability to the world,” Xi told Putin.

Xinhua, in his first face-to-face meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin since Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged “strong support” for their “respective core interests.” According to Chinese state news agency.

“China is ready to work with Russia in extending strong support to each other on issues concerning their respective core interests,” Xi Jinping said to Putin during the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, according to Xinhua.

“China is also willing to deepen pragmatic cooperation in such areas as trade, agriculture and connectivity,” and the two countries should “expand pragmatic cooperation, safeguard security and interests of the region, and preserve the common interests of developing countries and emerging market countries,” Xi said, according to Xinhua.

According to Xinhua, Xi called on China and Russia to “strengthen coordination” within the SCO, the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia, the BRICS — Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa — and “other multilateral mechanisms to promote solidarity and mutual trust among related parties.”

Putin praised China’s “balanced position” on the Ukraine war on Thursday, though he admitted Beijing had “questions and concerns” about the invasion, in what appeared to be a veiled admission of their diverging views on the protracted military assault. So far, China has refused to condemn Russia’s unprovoked attack on Ukraine while increasing economic aid to its neighbor, boosting bilateral trade to record levels in a boon to Russian business in the face of Western sanctions.

Xi also told Putin that “China is willing to make a great effort with Russia” to “take responsibilities and play a role in the midst of the chaotic interweaving world,” and that the goal will be to “provide stability to the world.”

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