Putin and Li Qiang in St Petersburg: Russia and China sign a joint communique, and Putin points to a new Xi meeting at APEC in Shenzhen

Russian President Vladimir Putin received China’s Premier Li Qiang at the Constantine Palace in St Petersburg on 21 October, the same day that Li and Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin closed the 31st regular meeting of the two countries’ heads of government with a joint communique. Putin told his guest that he and Chinese President Xi Jinping would meet again at the APEC summit in Shenzhen in November, according to the Kremlin’s transcript.

What the two governments agreed

According to the Chinese government’s account of the talks, Li and Mishustin co-chaired the session and heard reports from five bodies: the China-Russia Investment Cooperation Committee, the Energy Cooperation Committee, the Committee on Humanities Cooperation, the committee for regular meetings between the heads of government, and the intergovernmental commission for Northeast China and the Russian Far East. After the meeting the two premiers signed the joint communique, and the sides reached cooperation documents in economy and trade, space, science and technology, and education. The texts of the documents were not part of the releases read for this report.

Li said that in recent years China and Russia had stood side by side in a complex and turbulent international landscape and that the partnership was entering a new stage. Mishustin said this year marks the 25th anniversary of the Russia-China Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation, and described relations as being at their highest level in history. In the Chinese readout, the priorities named were economy and trade, investment, energy and resources, connectivity, aerospace, finance and industry, with artificial intelligence, biotechnology and the digital economy listed as new drivers of growth, and the China-Russia Years of Education as a joint project.

Putin’s meeting with Li

In his opening remarks, Putin said the two countries’ relations “do not depend on the international climate and are not directed against anyone.” He said he had already met Xi three times this year, and added that trade and economic ties were rising, listing energy, information technology, space exploration and the peaceful use of nuclear energy as areas of joint work. On agriculture, he said that over the first eight months of the year trade turnover had increased by 34 percent.

Putin also noted that the fifth plenary session of the 20th Communist Party of China Central Committee will take place from 26 to 29 October and wished the Chinese side success. Li, in the Kremlin’s transcript, conveyed greetings from Xi, congratulated Russia on the State Duma elections held last month, and said that under the current international conditions the close ties between the two countries were “particularly valuable.” The Kremlin’s transcript covers only the opening statements.

Background and what comes next

Li’s trip to Russia was announced by Beijing earlier in October; Geopolitiki reported on it in China’s Premier Li Qiang to visit Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Russia from 17 to 22 October, with SCO and China-Russia government talks. The Shenzhen summit is also the setting for Putin’s proposal of a wider format, covered in Putin proposes a three-way meeting with Trump and Xi on Ukraine in Shenzhen – the Kremlin confirms talks, with Zelensky not at the table.

The next fixed point is the Putin-Xi meeting that Putin himself placed at the APEC summit in Shenzhen in November; the sources read give no further date.

Sources: the Kremlin’s record of Putin’s conversation with Li Qiang (en.kremlin.ru) and the Chinese government’s report of the 31st meeting (english.www.gov.cn).