Putin is going to China with half of his revamped cabinet

Vladimir Putin's upcoming visit to Beijing is expected to be a breakthrough in many areas, including in military co-operation. Defence Minister Andrei Belousov knows China well.

Photo: http://www.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/60669/photos by Пресс-служба Президента Российской Федерации

Settlement before the summit: no concession to Western pressure

Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to pay a state visit to China from 16 to 17 May. Putin will see his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping after the Chinese leader responded to the ultimatum from the West — stop siding with Russia or sanctions — and chose sanctions. The United States imposed trade duties from 25 to 100 percent on Chinese "green agenda" goods.

The Russian leader, for his part, has carried out quite a reform in the Defence Ministry against the backdrop of Russia's military successes in the zone of the special military operation in Ukraine. Now Putin is flying to China to touch base with Xi on the implementation of the multipolar world order plan that was conceived at the Beijing Olympics.

Belousov ready for substantive conversation with China

Putin is bringing half of his revamped cabinet with him, including new Defence Minister Andrei Belousov. Presidential aide Yury Ushakov said that the two leaders have an informal meeting scheduled with the participation of new Defence Minister Andrei Belousov and his predecessor, Secretary of the Russian Security Council Sergei Shoigu.

Belousov is not new to dealing with China. In 2012, as Minister of Economic Development, he held talks with his Chinese colleagues. When serving as First Deputy Prime Minister, he arranged investment and trade activities with China and co-chaired the Russia-China Investment Cooperation Committee.

Given that today's Ukraine may become tomorrow's East Asia, the two countries will have to achieve great progress in advanced technology cooperation, including AI. Military projects in space are not ruled out either.

Russia and China could set up a joint military technology company on mutually beneficial terms by attracting each other's startups.

China plan for Ukraine suitable as foundation

Judging from Vladimir Putin's recent interview with Xinhua news agency, one shall assume that the Russian leader supports the Chinese plan for a settlement in Ukraine, which favours maintaining the status quo on the front, i. e. Russia's territorial gains. Putin praised Beijing for being well aware of the root causes of the Ukrainian crisis, but the Chinese plan is only a foundation, of course.

The conference in Switzerland, modelled on Zelensky's "peace plan" has all chances to fail; China is not sending its representatives to the conference.

If we take a broader look on the subject, Putin's visit to China will help form an alternative political system — with its own courts, rules, currency. This centre of power will exist to save those countries that do not want to be part of the colonial system of the West. BRICS is a prototype of this new centre of power.

In Beijing, Russian and Chinese officials are to sign eleven intergovernmental documents and a joint statement on deepening comprehensive strategic partnership and coordination on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Russia and China.

The signing of the contract for the construction of the Power of Siberia 2 pipeline to supply 50 billion cubic metres of natural gas from Russia to China via Mongolia wold be a major breakthrough. When coupled with the 38-billion-cubic-metre capacity of Power of Siberia-1, Gazprom would be able to partially make up for the losses of European supplies.