Xi, Putin criticize US missile shield but fail to seal gas deal

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin met Wednesday in Beijing, jointly condemning the United States' proposed missile defense system while leaving a major natural gas pipeline agreement unresolved.

The summit came a week after Xi met with U.S. President Donald Trump, reinforcing Beijing's role as a central player in global diplomacy navigating ties with both Washington and Moscow. The pipeline failure exposed Moscow's weaker hand: Russia needs the deal far more urgently than China after losing most of its European gas market.

Xi and Putin, who have now met more than 40 times, signed a joint declaration taking aim at Trump's proposed "Golden Dome" missile defense shield, calling it a threat to global strategic stability, according to The Korea Times. The statement also noted that a U.S.-Russia nuclear arms control treaty lapsed in February without Washington responding to Moscow's proposal for an extension.

The declaration went further, accusing the United States and Israel of violating international law in Iran. The document warned that "the global agenda of peace and development is facing new risks and challenges, with the danger of fragmentation of the international community and a drift back towards the 'law of the jungle,'" according to The Korea Times.

What did not happen dominated the commercial headlines: the two countries departed Beijing without signing off on the Power of Siberia 2 pipeline, a proposed 2,600-kilometer route through Mongolia designed to carry 50 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year from Russia to China. Daniel Sleat, a senior policy advisor at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, said the stalemate reflected a lopsided negotiating dynamic. "The core disagreements on pricing, financing and contract terms do not appear to have been resolved. Russia needs this deal more urgently than China does after losing much of its European gas market, while Beijing still appears content to move slowly and preserve flexibility over future energy supply options," Sleat said.

Xi framed the partnership in sweeping terms, saying "China-Russia relations have reached this level because we have been able to deepen political mutual trust and strategic cooperation." Putin said Russian-Chinese ties "had reached a truly unprecedented level and continue to develop." Patricia Kim, a foreign policy fellow at the Brookings Institution, said the sequence of summits — Trump first, then Putin — gave Xi the upper hand at both tables. "Xi does appear to hold the stronger position relative to both Putin and Trump. Both leaders are grappling with conflicts of their own making that have proven far more difficult to resolve than initially anticipated," Kim said.

Despite the pipeline standoff, bilateral energy trade is expanding. Russian oil supplies to China grew 10 percent over the past four months, The Korea Times reported. The two countries signed a strategic partnership treaty in 2022, weeks before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and have deepened economic ties since Western sanctions curtailed Moscow's reach in international markets.

The meeting was held at the Great Hall of the People, where Xi received Putin with an honor guard and a gun salute before a formal banquet featuring Peking duck and Jinhua cured ham. The two leaders' joint agenda also covered cooperation on artificial intelligence and environmental protection.