Chinese President Xi Jinping to visit Russia for talks with Vladimir Putin

Chinese President Xi Jinping will travel to Russia on Monday to hold crucial talks with his counterpart Vladimir Putin the foreign ministry here announced on Friday amid reports that Beijing plans to initiate peace talks to end the conflict in UkraineForeign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying in a brief announcement said at the invitation of President Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation President Xi Jinping will pay a state visit to Russia from March 20 to 22 No other details were givenThis will be Xis first overseas trip after getting endorsed for an unprecedented third fiveyear term as the President and head of the military early this month by the National Peoples Congress NPCAccording to a Kremlin statement the two leaders will discuss pressing issues related to the future of relations of comprehensive partnership and strategic interaction between Russia and ChinaAlso Read Chinese President Xi Jinping moots Global Civilisation Initiative at world political parties meet held by CPCThe parties are also expected to exchange views on ways to enhance RussianChinese cooperation on the international stage In addition the Kremlin press service specified that a number of important bilateral documents will be signed during the Chinese leaders visit Russias staterun Tass news agency reported on FridayXi 69 was elected as the head of the ruling Communist Party of China CPC for an unprecedented third term in October last year the only leader to have more than two fiveyear terms after the party founder Mao ZedongSpeculation is rife that Xi a close friend of Putin for the past 10 years is likely to make an attempt to initiate peace talks between Russia and Ukraine to end the ongoing conflict in UkraineHe is also expected to talk to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy over the phoneXis visit comes days after China clinched a SaudiIran deal regarded as a diplomatic coup to end the hostilities between the two countries and restore diplomatic their tiesThe deal was regarded as a major achievement for China in expanding its global outreach and countering the US influence especially in the Middle EastThe visit also comes at a time when there seems no near end to the war in Ukraine which surpassed one year earlier last monthWestern officials have also raised concerns that China may be considering providing Russia with lethal military assistance an accusation denied by BeijingChina reiterated its call for a political settlement to the Ukraine conflict on the oneyear anniversary last monthIn a newly released document Chinas Foreign Ministry called for a resumption of peace talks an end to unilateral sanctions and stressed its opposition to the use of nuclear weapons a stance Chinese leader Xi communicated to Western leaders last yearThe 12point document is part of Beijings latest efforts to present itself as a neutral peace broker as it struggles to balance its nolimits relationship with Moscow amid fraying relations with the West as the war drags onConflict and war benefit no one All parties must stay rational and exercise restraint avoid fanning the flames and aggravating tensions and prevent the crisis from deteriorating further or even spiraling out of control it saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever