Chinese President Xi Jinping said during a visit to Russia on Tuesday that he had invited his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to visit China this year, hinting at the strength of tensions between the two countries. West.

“Yesterday I invited President Putin to visit China this year, when it suits him,” Xi said during a meeting with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin ahead of the second round of talks with the Russian president, Russian news agencies reported.

On the other hand, the Chinese president confirmed that Beijing will continue to make relations with Russia a “priority”, considering that the two countries are “two great neighboring powers” ​​and “strategic partners”.

The Chinese president said, “Prime Minister Li Qiang will continue to prioritize the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership.”

Amid a visit by China’s president, Russian oil giant Gazprom announced on Tuesday that it will deliver a record daily shipment to Beijing on Monday via the Siberian pipeline that runs from Russia’s far east to northeastern China.

Gazprom said in a statement that it had delivered “the required amount and set a new record for daily gas deliveries to China”.

Asked by Agence France-Presse about the exact number of these amounts, the company said it “does not provide additional information”.

Travel to Central Asia

For his part, the president of China has invited the leaders of the former Soviet republics of Central Asia to visit his country in May to attend a “China-Central Asia” summit, at a time when China refuses its presence in him Country. in the region, and Russia, which has great influence in the region, is at war in Ukraine.

In separate cables sent on Monday and Tuesday on the occasion of Nowruz, the traditional spring festival, Xi Jinping invited the leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan to attend the “First China-Central Asia Summit”. In May.

These four countries issued telegrams. Turkmenistan, a renegade country and Beijing’s main supplier of gas, has yet to put the wire in place.

These countries are part of the “New Silk Road”, a huge road, rail and port infrastructure project initiated by China.

Meanwhile, Russia, which has considered Central Asia its backyard since the mid-19th century, fears its influence at a time when its traditional regional allies China, Turkey and the West are in the spotlight.

This trend has accelerated since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, although Moscow retains a strong influence in the region.

In recent months, in addition to Xi Jinping, the Presidents of Russia and Turkey, Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, and the Secretary of State of the United States, Anthony Blinken, have been to Central Asia.

An online summit, based on the “5+1” model, which Xi organized in January 2022 to mark the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Central Asia after the collapse of the Soviet Union, was also held.

All four handles are similar, Xi Jinping highlights the deepening of relations between China and Central Asia.

According to a television broadcast by Tajikistan’s state-run KHOVAR news agency, Xi Jinping said he “looks forward to discussing the grand plan for the development of China-Central Asia relations.”

However, China’s growing influence will not come without some fear and resistance from the population, especially in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan.