Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin meet for talks in Beijing

Chinese President Xi Jinping is meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin in Beijing, state media said, in the latest display of solidarity amid growing pressure from the US and its allies.

Putin, accompanied by a delegation of Russian officials and business figures, is in Beijing for what Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov described as an “absolutely unprecedented” trip in China.

Beijing is the second stop for the Russian leader during his four-day visit to China. He arrived in the northeastern city of Tianjin on Sunday for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit, which was attended by leaders from more than 20 nations including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

In a declaration released after the summit, leaders of the 10 member states reiterated their “opposition to resolving international and regional hotspot issues through bloc-based and confrontational thinking”.

In what appeared to be a response to US President Donald Trump’s trade policy, the SCO members also reaffirmed a commitment to safeguard an “open, transparent, inclusive, non-discriminatory and rules-based multilateral trading system”.

“Member states oppose unilateral coercive measures, including economic measures that violate the UN Charter and other norms of international law, as well as WTO principles and rules,” the declaration said.

Many members of the SCO – a Eurasian political, economic and security bloc formed in 2001 – are facing blanket sanctions and punitive tariffs from the United States.