The meeting of two friends,
both set up to be leaders for life,
showing off their vision
of a post-American world order.
The pomp encircled stands
a credibility boost for Russian leader
Vladimir Putin,
displaying
that he's got a powerful friend
in Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
Even as the international Criminal Court
has a warrant for his arrest
for committing
war crimes and allegedly shipping
Ukrainian children to Russia.
And even as the West isolates him
amid his stalled invasion of Ukraine,
both she and Putin
writing glowing op
eds about their countries relations.
She calling their relationship
an eternal friendship.
Putin
saying the two are standing
shoulder to shoulder against America's
increasingly aggressive
efforts to deter Russia and China.
Xi Jinping is trying
to walk a delicate line
so far, stopping short of providing
lethal aid to Russia,
though the US says
he may be considering it.
While also refusing
to condemn the invasion.
Meanwhile, Beijing
is also taking advantage
of Russia's isolation.
Trade between the two nations
jumped to $190 billion last year,
an increase of 30% from 2021,
undercutting the impact of US
led sanctions.
As Chinese companies
snap up cheap energy from Russia,
giving the Kremlin key funds
to finance the invasion.
But Beijing wants the world
to focus less on their friendship
and more on Xi's role
as a global statesman
who can broker peace
deals like the historic deal
he helped
forge to restore relations
between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
I've been talking
to people in this Hutong,
this old Beijing
residential alley,
to get a sense
of what
Chinese people think about Xi
Jinping's visit.
This man tells me Xi's visit is good
because it can further improve China.
Russia relations do a couple of hundred.
He says he likes Putin a lot
because he's a cool, tough guy.
On the Ukraine war, he says.
He just hopes
everyone can have a peaceful
relationship. Hazard Video.
This woman tells me she hopes
Russia wins the war, but peace is best.
Another woman
says the war
and loss of life
is heartbreaking and painful to watch.
She says it's wrong for America
to send weapons to Ukraine,
and she believes in Xi
Jinping's vision of world peace.
When I ask her what she thinks of Putin,
she answers
that he's righteous,
decisive, swift and tough.
But when I follow up and ask
if she's heard of the ICC
issuing an arrest warrant for Putin,
she responds,
I didn't know
he started the war after all.
He should sit down with Zelensky
and talk.
This shoe repairman says.
Why are they fighting?
It doesn't do anybody good,
but we don't know who started the war,
he adds.
It's the Ukrainians, right?
Who are you hear about?
She doesn't need to convince
the audience in China,
where media is heavily
censored of the merits
of his tight bond with Putin.
But the rest of the world is watching
to see
what comes of Beijing's
claims of neutrality.
Yeah, and Jake, Russia's state news
agency said
talks between Xi and Putin lasted
for four and a half hours.
Chinese state media
has been framing this visit
as a trip for peace
and it's striking there
how almost everyone I spoke
to on the streets
of Beijing echoed that perspective
with very positive views of Putin.
But you have to remember, that's
because in China, social
media, media in general
is heavily censored.
So it's pretty much the only viewpoint
most people can see.
But look,
the China
Russia relationship
has historically been a tricky one,
but their shared
growing adversarial relationship
with the US led rest
is really driving Putin and Xi together.
Jake Wang in Beijing for us,
thank you so much.
US officials say the President
Xi has yet to call Ukraine's
president Volodymyr
Zelensky, despite China's
assertion that it wants to play a role
as a peacemaker in the conflict
between Ukraine and invading Russia.
CNN's Ivan
Watson is in Kharkiv, Ukraine for us.
And Ivan,
how has Ukraine responded to this meeting
between Xi and Putin?
Well, it's watching very closely.
And I would add probably nervously,
as you pointed out,
Ukraine,
I think there's a lot of skepticism
about whether or not Xi Jinping
and the Chinese government
are truly neutral
as they profess to be
when it comes to this war.
But they'd rather have
China pretend to be neutral
than actually full throated offer weapons
and ammunition to Ukraine's much larger
enemy, Russia.
So you've got statements
coming out
like the president
and Lansky's
office saying that supporting
only the Russian side
will not lead
to the finalization of the war.
The Foreign Ministry spokesperson saying
we expect
Beijing to use its influence on Moscow to
to put
an end
to Russia's aggressive
war against Ukraine
and another top security official saying
that if China wants to fulfill
its so-called peace
plan for Ukraine, the first
and foremost point
is the surrender
or withdrawal of Russian
occupation forces from the territory
of Ukraine.
Also,
a top Ukrainian intelligence official
says that the Ukrainians
are watching very closely
the ammunition that they're capturing
and noticing
on the Russian side, on the front lines.
And so far they have seen no evidence
of deliveries of Chinese arms
to the Russian side.
But again,
they're watching this very closely.
And Ivan,
this meeting
between Xi
and Putin comes on the same day
that the European Union
has agreed to provide more support
for Ukraine on the front lines.
Tell us about that.
That is sending an important message
not only to the Ukrainians,
but arguably
to the Russians
and the Chinese leaders
as they meet in Moscow.
The European Union,
17 European
countries, plus Norway, announcing
that they're going to ship
a million
rounds of 155 millimeter artillery
ammunition to the Ukrainians,
that they're going to try
to put $1,000,000,000
into that effort
and then another billion euros, rather,
into procuring more ammunition.
The Ukrainians delighted with that.
And that comes on
top of
the Biden administration
announcing an additional $350 million
in presidential drawdown funds.
That's for ammunition
for those High Marrs
that the Ukrainians
love, the long distance missile
launching systems as well as howitzers.
Bradley Infantry fighting vehicles, hard
missiles, anti-tank weapons.
And that's on top of earlier this month,
hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S.
presidential drawdown defense assistance.
And that comes all on top of some $32
billion in defense aid
that has come
from the Biden administration.
And just another country
that's offered aid.
Small Norway
says it has now sent
eight leopard, two tanks to Ukraine.
All of this
is just trying to demonstrate
that European countries, the West,
the U.S.
are supporting Ukraine
in its battle against its much larger
enemy with a much larger population.
It's held the line so far,
but it still needs help.
All right, Ivan
Watson in Kiev, Ukraine, thank
you so much.