Putin heads to China to bolster ties amid Ukraine tensions

MOSCOW (AP):

American and European officials may be staying away from the Beijing Winter Olympics because of human rights concerns, but Russian President Vladimir Putin will be on hand even as tensions soar over his buildup of troops along his country’s border with Ukraine.

Putin’s talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday will mark their first in-person meeting since 2019 and are intended to help strengthen Moscow’s ties with China and coordinate their policies in the face of Western pressure. After, the two will attend the Games’ opening ceremony.

In an article published Thursday by the Chinese news agency Xinhua, Putin wrote that Moscow and Beijing play an “important stabilising role” in global affairs and help make international affairs “more equitable and inclusive”.

The Russian president criticised “attempts by some countries to politicise sports to the benefit of their ambitions,” an apparent reference to a diplomatic boycott of the Olympics by the US and some of its allies.

EU spokeswoman Nabila Massrali reacted to that by stating that “we are, of course, fully committed to contribute to promoting and protecting sports integrity and to strengthening universal respect for human rights.”

“Big sports events such as the Olympic Games often have a universal audience,” Massrali said. “They can be instrumental for spreading positive values and promoting freedom and human rights at the global level. However, such platforms should not be used for political propaganda.”

Many Western officials are skipping the Beijing Games in protest of China’s detention of more than 1 million Uyghur Muslims in the northwestern region of Xinjiang. But leaders of the ex-Soviet Central Asian nations, which have close ties with both Russia and China, all followed Putin’s lead and are attending.