Seoul:

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin sent greetings to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on the occasion of North Korea’s founding anniversary, state media KCNA said on Monday.

“I am sure that the comprehensive strategic partnership between Russia and the DPRK will be strengthened in a planned way thanks to our joint efforts,” Putin said, according to KCNA.

DPRK is short for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the North’s official name.

Xi called for deeper strategic communication and cooperation with North Korea in his message, KCNA said.

Last year, Kim marked the country’s founding day on Sept 9 with a parade of paramilitary groups and diplomatic exchanges in which he vowed to deepen ties with China and Russia.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Beijing:

Chinese President Xi Jinping today pledged to step up China’s support across the debt-distressed African continent with funding of nearly $51 billion, backing for more infrastructure initiatives and a promise to create at least 1 million jobs.

The commitments were made at the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation Summit in Beijing.

Beijing, the world’s biggest two-way lender, also promised to carry out three times as many infrastructure projects across resource-rich Africa, despite Xi’s new preference for “small and beautiful” schemes based around selling advanced and green technologies in which Chinese firms have invested heavily.

“China is ready to deepen cooperation with Africa in industry, agriculture, infrastructure, trade and investment,” Xi told delegates from more than 50 African nations gathered in Beijing for the ninth meeting of the three yearly forum.

After the opening ceremony, delegates adopted the Beijing Declaration to build an “all-weather China-Africa community with a shared future in the new era,” as well as the Beijing Action Plan for 2025-2027, China’s state media said.

Xi also called for “a China-Africa network featuring land-sea links and co-ordinated development,” as he told Chinese contractors to return to the one-billion-strong continent, after the lifting of COVID-19 curbs that disrupted its projects.

“China and Africa account for one-third of the world population. Without our modernisation, there will be no global modernisation,” Xi told the summit.

The Chinese leader committed 360 billion yuan ($50.70 billion) in financial assistance, but specified that 210 billion would be disbursed through credit lines and at least 70 billion in fresh investment by Chinese companies, with smaller amounts provided through military aid and other projects.

At the 2021 China-Africa summit in Dakar, China promised at least $10 billion in investment and the same again in credit lines. This time, the financial assistance would be in yuan, in an apparent push to further internationalise the Chinese yuan.

Xi did not mention debt in his speech, despite Beijing being many African states’ biggest bilateral lender, but the Action Plan for 2024-2027 included terms for repayment postponements and called for the establishment of an African rating agency to bring about “a new rating culture”.

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres told the summit African countries’ inadequate access to debt relief and scarce resources was a recipe for social unrest, while proposing fresh reforms to the international financial architecture.

SHARED FUTURE OR DEBT DIPLOMACY?

The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation Summit chalks out a three-year programme for China and every African state bar Eswatini, which retains ties to Taiwan.

In addition to 30 infrastructure connectivity projects, Xi said, “China is ready to launch 30 clean energy projects in Africa,” offering to co-operate on nuclear technology and tackle a power deficit that has delayed industrialisation efforts.

But the Chinese leader did not reiterate his pledge at the 2021 forum in Dakar for the Asian giant to buy $300 billion worth of African goods, pledging only to unilaterally expand market access.

Analysts say Beijing’s phytosanitary rules for market access are too strict, making China unable to meet that promise.

But Africa continues to receive more Chinese financing instead. Last year, China approved loans worth $4.61 billion to Africa, in the first annual increase since 2016.

“I’m here to see how best we can foster our relationship with China,” Princess Dugba, Sierra Leone’s fisheries and marine resources minister, said to the summit’s sidelines.

“China is getting us a fish harbour, which is one of the first of its kind,” she added.

Xi Jinping also said China was “ready to assist in the development of the African Continental Free Trade Area, and deepen logistics and financial co-operation for the benefit of trans-regional development in Africa.”

China has been accused of having “hidden agendas” in its “debt diplomacy”. Nations dealing with China have often faced the dangers of unaffordable debt via unsustainable financing, which, as highlighted by India at the United Nations, leads to a “vicious cycle of debt traps”.

($1=7.0976 Chinese yuan renminbi)
 

A handout photo made available by the Chigi Palace Press Office shows Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) shaking hands with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni (L) during their meeting in Beijing, China, on July 29, 2024
| Photo Credit: PTI

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni discussed the war in Ukraine and the crisis in the Middle East at a meeting in Beijing on Monday, Meloni’s office said.

Ms. Meloni, whose country currently holds the rotating G7 presidency, stressed the importance of China as a partner in dealing with growing global insecurity during their talks.

The two leaders addressed the “priority issues on the international agenda from the war in Ukraine to the risks of a further escalation of the situation in the Middle East. They also discussed the growing tensions in the Indo-Pacific,” the Italian leader’s office said in a statement.

Ms. Meloni is seeking to relaunch her country’s economic ties with Beijing after Italy exited Mr. Xi’s flagship Belt and Road Initiative last year and amid deteriorating trade ties between the West and the world’s second-largest economy.

“There is growing insecurity at the international level, and I think that China is inevitably a very important interlocutor to deal with all these dynamics,” Ms. Meloni said during the talks at Beijing’s Diaoyutai State Guest House.

Ms. Meloni stressed the importance of putting trade on a more even footing, rather than being tilted towards Beijing.

“I think that Italy can also play an important role in relations with the European Union and here too the attempts to create trade relations that are as balanced as possible,” she said.

EU trade policy has turned increasingly protective over concerns that China’s production-focused development model could see the bloc flooded with cheap goods as Chinese firms look to step up exports amid weak domestic demand.

The European Commission this month confirmed it would impose preliminary tariffs of up to 37.6% on imports of electric vehicles made in China, ratcheting up tensions with Beijing.

Chinese officials have warned of a possible trade war, should Brussels not back down.

“REBOUND INTO A NEW ERA”

Italy is of strategic importance to China as it has struck out on its own with Beijing before, and could prove to be a moderating voice within the bloc.

In 2019, Italy became the only member of the Group of Seven industrialised democracies to join Xi’s Belt and Road infrastructure initiative, billed as recreating the ancient Silk Road trade route.

And while Italy eventually left the infrastructure investment scheme last year, under pressure from the U.S. over concerns about Beijing’s economic reach, Rome signalled it still desired to forge stronger trade ties with the Asian giant, signing a three-year action plan on Sunday.

“Both sides face important opportunities for mutual development,” Xi told Meloni at the start of their meeting.

“China and Italy should uphold the spirit of the Silk Road … so that the bridge of communication between East and West through it can rebound into a new era.”

After almost 30 months of war with Russia, Ukraine’s difficulties on the battlefield are mounting even as its vital support from the United States is increasingly at the mercy of changing political winds.

A six-month delay in military assistance from the U.S., the biggest single contributor to Ukraine, opened the door for the Kremlin’s forces to push on the front line. Ukrainian troops are now fighting to check the slow but gradual gains by Russia’s bigger and better-equipped army.

“The next two or three months are going to be probably the hardest this year for Ukraine,” military analyst Michael Kofman of the Carnegie Endowment said in a recent podcast.

Lurking in the background is another nagging worry for Ukraine: how long will Western political and military support critical for its fight last?

On July 15, former President Donald Trump chose Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio as his running mate for the Republican ticket in November’s U.S. election, and Mr. Vance wants the United States to attend to its own problems — not necessarily war thousands of miles away on a different continent, even though he has said Putin was wrong to invade.

That view dovetails with Mr. Trump’s own stance. Mr. Trump has claimed that if elected, he would end the conflict before Inauguration Day in January. He has declined to say how.

Meanwhile, Hungary’s pro-Russian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán — whose country holds the European Union’s rotating presidency — recently infuriated other EU leaders by holding rogue meetings with Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Europe’s biggest war since World War II has already cost tens of thousands of lives on both sides, including thousands of civilians. There is no sign of it ending any time soon.

And Mr. Putin wants to draw out the war in the hope of sapping Western willingness to send billions more dollars to Kyiv.

Here’s a look at Ukraine’s major challenges:

Russia holds 18% of Ukrainian territory, after defensive forces pushed it out of half of the area it seized following its full-scale invasion in February 2022, the Council on Foreign Relations, a U.S. think tank, said in May. In 2014, Russia seized Ukraine’s Crimea.

Russia hasn’t accomplished a major battlefield victory since taking the eastern stronghold of Avdiivka in February. But its forces are now pushing in border regions: Kharkiv in northeast Ukraine, Donetsk in the east and Zaporizhzhia in the south.

To buy time, Ukraine has employed an elastic defense strategy by ceding some territory to wear down Russian troops until Western supplies reach brigades. But, analysts warn, Russia will undoubtedly win a lengthy war of attrition, unless Ukraine can strike using an element of surprise.

Russia claimed on July 14 its forces had taken control of the Donetsk village of Urozhaine, but Ukrainian officials said there was still fighting there. Moscow’s army is aiming to take the nearby strategic hilltop city of Chasiv Yar, which could allow it to drive deeper into Donetsk.

Ukraine’s forces are largely holding back the Russian push around northeastern Kharkiv city, according to the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington think tank. The Kremlin’s troops have been trying to get within artillery range of the city and create a buffer zone in the region to prevent Ukrainian cross-border attacks.

Meanwhile, Russia is firing missiles into rear areas, hitting civilian infrastructure. Last week it conducted a massive aerial attack that killed 31 civilians and struck Ukraine’s largest children’s hospital in Kyiv.

Crippling Ukraine’s electricity supply has been a key goal of Russia’s relentless long-range missile and drone attacks.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says the bombardment has destroyed 80% of Ukraine’s thermal power and one-third of its hydroelectric power.

A hard winter likely lies ahead for Ukraine, analysts say.

Ukraine is such a large country that massive air defences would be needed to protect it all. The country needs 25 Patriot air defence systems to fully defend its airspace, Mr. Zelenskyy said on July 15.

New deliveries of ammunition to Ukraine are trickling to units along the line of contact, shrinking Kyiv’s heavy disadvantage in artillery shells and allowing it to start stabilizing the front line.

But it will take time for Kyiv’s army to fully replenish its depleted stocks. Ukraine won’t be able to assemble a counteroffensive until late this year at the earliest, military analysts estimate.

Russia, meanwhile, is spending record amounts of money on defence to finance its grinding war of attrition.

Russia’s go-to tactic is to smash towns and villages to pieces, rendering them unlivable and denying Ukrainians defensive cover. Powerful glide bombs flatten buildings. Then the Russian infantry moves in.

Ukraine was late to build defensive lines but its fortifications have improved in recent months, according to analyst reports.

The Russian army has made creeping progress at eastern and southern points along the roughly 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line but has not recently made any significant breakthrough and its advances have been costly, Ukrainian officials say.

Ukraine in April adopted an expanded military conscription law that aimed to replenish its depleted and exhausted forces.

Mr. Zelenskyy said on July 15 the drive is going well, though the country doesn’t have enough training grounds for the new troops. Also, 14 brigades haven’t yet received their promised Western weapons.

NATO countries have taken steps this month to ensure that Ukraine keeps receiving long-term security aid and military training.

Alliance leaders attending a summit in Washington last week signed a deal to send more Stinger missiles, a portable surface-to-air defense system.

Ukraine is also preparing to receive the first F-16 warplanes donated by European countries.

Even so, Mr. Zelenskyy is frustrated. He says Ukraine cannot win the war unless the U.S. scraps its limits on the use of its weapons to attack military targets on Russian soil.

China’s President Xi Jinping with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin at the SCO summit in Astana on July 3.
| Photo Credit: AFP

China is seeking to strengthen its leadership of an expanding bloc of nations it sees as a potential counterweight to the world order led by the United States.

Leaders of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) member states met last week in Kazakhstan, with President Xi Jinping calling on strategic ally Russia and other partners to “firmly support each other”.

Founded in 2001 by Beijing and Moscow as an economic and security grouping, it includes India, Pakistan and several Central Asian states. It expanded last year to include Iran and this year welcomed Belarus. The talks in Astana took place ahead of this week’s NATO summit in Washington, where the Western military alliance is marking its 75th anniversary and reaffirming its support for Ukraine. In stark contrast, the SCO’s joint declaration made no mention of Russia’s war in Ukraine.

With China assuming the annual rotating chair of the SCO, analysts expect it will work to integrate the two new members and boost collaboration across its vast remit — bolstering, in turn, its own leadership of the alliance.

“The SCO is increasingly defining itself as an alternative vision for world order, juxtaposed against the traditional postwar order led by the United States and other Western powers,” said Bates Gill, a senior fellow for Asian security at the U.S.-based National Bureau of Asian Research.

The bloc’s expansion to include new members could be seen as echoing China’s and Russia’s repeated calls for their vast region to resist Western influence.

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, second from right, and her delegation attend a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China on July 10, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina met President Xi Jinping and her Chinese counterpart Li Qiang in Beijing on July 10 as the two countries signed 21 agreements, MoUs and announced seven more projects to further elevate their strategic cooperative ties.

During the meetings, both countries agreed to elevate their “strategic partnership” to a “comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership,” Bangladesh’s state-run news agency Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS) reported.

Also Read | India is a political friend, China is a friend for attaining development: Bangladesh Minister

China will help Bangladesh economically in four ways by giving grants, interest-free loans, concessional loans and commercial loans, the Chinese President said during the bilateral meeting with Ms. Hasina, it said.

Zunaid Ahmed Palak, Bangladesh’s State Minister at the Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications & Information Technology posted a photo of the two leaders’ meeting on X and said, “Hon’ble President of China, H E Mr Xi Jinping met and held a bilateral meeting with the Hon’ble Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Wednesday.”

Foreign Minister Dr. Hasan Mahmud briefed the newsmen about the outcome of the meeting between the two leaders and described it as: “A very successful discussion was held between the two leaders in a very cordial environment.”

Giving out details about the Li-Hasina meeting, BSS said the agreements were inked in the presence of Ms. Hasina and Mr. Li after the delegation-level talks between the two countries.

Earlier, the Bangladesh Prime Minister was accorded a red carpet reception and greeted by Premier Li as she reached for the bilateral meeting.

The bilateral talks mainly featured the Rohingya issue, business, trade and commerce, investments, and bilateral relations alongside various regional and international matters.

The instruments on cooperation in the economic and banking sector, trade and investment, digital economy, infrastructure development, assistance in disaster management, construction of 6th and 9th Bangladesh-China friendship bridges, export of agricultural products from Bangladesh and people-to-people connectivity were signed, the BSS report said.

Beijing:

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina arrived here on Tuesday on a four-day visit for talks with China’s top leadership, including President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang to further cement the bilateral strategic ties.

In her separate meetings with Xi and Li on Wednesday, the entire gamut of the bilateral relations alongside the regional and international matters will come for discussion, the official BSS news agency reported.

This visit of the Bangladesh premier to China is taking place within 15 days after her last visit to India from June 21 to 22, the Bangladeshi news agency reported.

Hasina had her last discussions with President Xi in a recent meeting on the sidelines of the 15th BRICS Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Hasina will also hold a delegation-level bilateral meeting with her Chinese counterpart Li Qiang at the Great Hall of the People. Following the meeting, Bangladesh and China are likely to sign and renew 20 to 22 Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs), the report said.

“The MoUs on cooperation in the economic and banking sector, trade and investment, digital economy, infrastructure development, assistance in disaster management, construction of 6th and 9th Bangladesh-China friendship bridges, export of agricultural products from Bangladesh and people to people connectivity are likely to be signed,” Foreign Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud said on Sunday at a curtain raiser press conference at the Foreign Ministry in Bangladesh.

During the visit, Dr Hasan said the inauguration of several projects of the two countries will also be announced.

The issues like Rohingya, and cooperation on business, trade, commerce and development will dominate the discussions.

This is Hasina’s fourth visit to China and the trip is expected to elevate the relations between Bangladesh and China to “comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership” from “strategic partnership”, the report said.

The two countries would celebrate the golden jubilee of their diplomatic relations next year.

Meanwhile, China’s top political advisor Wang Huning met with Prime Minister Hasina on Tuesday in Beijing.

Wang, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), said that under the strategic guidance of the two countries’ leaders, China and Bangladesh have respected and treated each other with equality, setting a good example of friendly coexistence and mutually beneficial cooperation between countries.

China is ready to deepen practical cooperation with Bangladesh in various fields, and push the strategic cooperative partnership between the two countries to a new height, to better benefit the two peoples, Wang was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua news agency. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

In this picture issued by the Hungarian Prime Minister’s Press Office, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, left, and Chinese President Xi Jinping shake hands before a meeting in Beijing, China, on July 8, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

Chinese President Xi Jinping called on world powers to help Russia and Ukraine resume direct dialogue and negotiations during a meeting Monday with Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

Mr. Orbán made a surprise visit to China after similar trips last week to Russia and Ukraine to discuss prospects for a peaceful settlement in Ukraine.

Mr. Orbán praised China’s “constructive and important initiatives” for achieving peace and described Beijing as a stabilizing force amid global turbulence, according to CCTV.

Besides Russia and Ukraine, the end of the war “depends on the decision of three world powers, the United States, the European Union and China,” Orbán wrote in a Facebook post showing him shaking hands with Mr. Xi.

Mr. Orbán met with Mr. Xi just two months ago when he hosted the Chinese leader in Hungary as part of a three-country European tour that also included stops in France and Serbia, which unlike the other two is not a member of the European Union or NATO.

Hungary under Mr. Orbán has built substantial political and economic ties with China. The European nation hosts a number of Chinese electric vehicle battery facilities, and in December it announced that Chinese EV manufacturing giant BYD will open its first European EV production factory in the south of the country.

“Peace mission 3.0” is how Mr. Orbán captioned a picture posted early Monday on the X social media platform depicting him after having stepped off his plane in Beijing. He was being greeted by Chinese Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Hua Chunying and other officials.

His previously unannounced visit comes on the heels of similar trips last week to Moscow and Kyiv, where he proposed that Ukraine consider agreeing to an immediate cease-fire with Russia.

His visit to Moscow drew condemnation from Kyiv and European leaders.

“The number of countries that can talk to both warring sides is diminishing,” Mr. Orbán said. “Hungary is slowly becoming the only country in Europe that can speak to everyone.”

Hungary assumed the rotating presidency of the EU at the start of July and Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested Orbán had come to Moscow as a top representative of the European Council. Several top European officials dismissed that suggestion and said Mr. Orbán had no mandate for anything beyond a discussion about bilateral relations.

The Hungarian Prime Minister, widely seen as having the warmest relations with Putin among EU leaders, has routinely blocked, delayed or watered down EU efforts to assist Kyiv and impose sanctions on Moscow for its actions in Ukraine. He has long argued for a cessation of hostilities in Ukraine but without outlining what that might mean for the country’s territorial integrity or future security.

That posture has frustrated Hungary’s EU and NATO allies, who have denounced Russia’s actions as a breach of international law and a threat to the security of countries in Eastern Europe.

Astana:

Russian President Vladimir Putin told Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Wednesday that relations between Beijing and Moscow were stronger than ever before.

The pair met on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in the Kazakh capital of Astana — a regional political and economic bloc that the two leaders see as a counterweight to US “hegemony” in international affairs.

Putin hailed the group as “strengthening its role as one of the key pillars of a fair multipolar world order” in opening remarks of a meeting with Xi that were published on Russian state TV.

Alongside Russia and China, four Central Asian states, India, Iran and Pakistan are members of the SOC.

Beijing has become Moscow’s key political and economic partner since it invaded Ukraine in February 2022, triggering a raft of Western sanctions.

“Russian-Chinese relations, our comprehensive partnership and strategic cooperation, are experiencing their best period in history,” Putin said. 

In his brief opening comments, Xi called Putin his “old friend” and said Sino-Russian relations were at a “high level.”

“In the face of the turbulent international situation and external environment, the two sides should continue to uphold the original aspiration of friendship for generations to come,” Xi said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

China’s President Xi Jinping. File
| Photo Credit: Getty Images

The situation in Afghanistan, the Ukraine conflict and boosting overall security cooperation among the SCO member countries are expected to figure in the summit.

Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend the 24th summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Kazakhstan’s capital Astana this week, the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced on June 30. He will also pay a state visit to Tajikistan, it said.

From July 2 to 6, President Xi will attend the 24th Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the SCO in Astana, the Ministry said.

Officials say the situation in Afghanistan, the Ukraine conflict and boosting overall security cooperation among the SCO member countries are expected to figure in the summit.

The SCO, comprising India, China, Russia, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, is an influential economic and security bloc that has emerged as one of the largest transregional international organisations.

S. Jaishankar, Wang Yi likely to meet

India will be represented by External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) earlier said.

Officials say there is a likelihood of a meeting on the sidelines of the summit between Jaishankar and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who is expected to accompany Mr. Xi.

If it takes place, it will be the first high-level meeting between Indian and Chinese officials after the formation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 3.0 government following the recent general elections in India.

Generally, the Indian prime minister participates in the SCO summit, providing an opportunity for Indian and Chinese leaders on the sidelines of the heads of the state meeting of the eight-member bloc.

But since Mr. Modi has decided to skip it, significance is attached to the likely meeting between Mr. Jaishankar and Mr. Wang in the light of four-year-long frozen relations between the two countries over the standoff in Eastern Ladakh.

Frosty relationship between India and China

Relations between the two countries hit a low except for trade ever since the eastern Ladakh border stand-off erupted on May 5, 2020, following a violent clash in the Pangong Tso (lake) area near Galwan.

Since the May 2020 clashes, the two sides have held 21 rounds of Corps Commander-level talks so far to resolve the stand-off. The 22nd meeting is due to be held. 

According to the Chinese military, the two sides have so far agreed to disengage from four points namely the Galwan Valley, the Pangong Lake, Hot Springs, and Jianan Daban (Gogra) in eastern Ladakh.

India is pressing the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to disengage from the Depsang and Demchok areas, maintaining that there cannot be restoration of normalcy in its relations with China as long as the state of the borders remains abnormal.

For its part, China continues to maintain that the boundary question does not represent the entirety of China-India relations, and it should be placed appropriately in bilateral relations and managed properly.

Kazakhstan is hosting the summit in its capacity as the current chair of the grouping.

India was the chair of the SCO last year. It hosted the SCO summit in the virtual format in July last year.

India has shown a keen interest in deepening its security-related cooperation with the SCO and its Regional Anti-Terrorism Structure (RATS), which specifically deals with issues relating to security and defence.

The SCO was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the presidents of Russia, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Pakistan became its permanent member along with India in 2017.