PR Newswire - Global Times: President Xi to pay state visit to Russia, attend Great Patriotic War victory celebration in Moscow

BEIJING, May 6, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Chinese President Xi Jinping will pay a state visit to Russia from May 7 to 10 and attend the celebrations marking the 80th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War in Moscow, at the invitation of President Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said on Sunday.

During the state visit, President Xi will have strategic communication with President Putin on China-Russia relations and on a series of major international and regional issues, according to the spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

In today's world, unprecedented global changes are unfolding at a faster pace, and the international order is undergoing profound adjustments. With a historic vision and from a strategic height, President Xi and President Putin have guided China-Russia relations in the new era to always forge ahead despite a complex external environment and demonstrate the relations' defining features of everlasting good-neighborliness and friendship, comprehensive strategic coordination and mutual benefit, cooperation and win-win, said the spokesperson.

"The important common understandings between the two presidents will further deepen political mutual trust between the two countries, add new substance to strategic coordination, promote practical cooperation in various fields, bring more benefits to the two peoples, and contribute more stability to the international community," said the spokesperson.

In a documentary aired Sunday on Rossiya-1 TV channel, Putin said reliable and stable Russia-China relations strengthen stability in the world. Putin said that when he first became Russian president 25 years ago, there were first signs that the center of economic growth would move to the Asia-Pacific region, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

Russia has been developing relations with China, Putin noted, adding that the bilateral ties are strategic and profound today, as "turbulence in the world has not decreased, but only increased."

"And we have such reliable, stable relations, which, by the very fact of their existence, strengthen stability in the world," Putin added.

Observers expect President Xi's visit to continue to provide strategic guidance for bilateral relations, and at the unique timing of the 80th anniversary of the victory in the World Anti-Fascist War, the visit carries the significance to amplify a just view of history and safeguard the post-war international system with the UN at its core amid major global changes and emerging challenges.

Remembering history 

This year marks the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union and the World Anti-Fascist War. As the two main theaters of Asia and Europe in World War II, China and Russia made immense sacrifice and major, historic contributions to secure the victory in the World Anti-Fascist War and save their respective nations from demise and the future of mankind, according to Chinese Foreign Ministry.

President Xi and President Putin previously agreed that the two sides will jointly remember history, honor the martyrs, foster a right view of World War II history and defend the outcomes of the victory of the war and the post-war international order, and uphold international fairness and justice.

At this special historic juncture, President Xi's attendance at the celebrations marking the 80th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War in Moscow upon invitation is an important part of his visit. It is also reflective of China and Russia's support to each other's commemorations of the 80th anniversary of the victory in the World Anti-Fascist War.

This year also marks the 80th anniversary of the founding of the UN. As founding members of the UN and permanent members of the UN Security Council, China and Russia shoulder special and important responsibility in safeguarding the international system with the UN at its core. The two countries will further strengthen their close coordination in the UN, SCO, BRICS and other multilateral platforms, rally the Global South, shape global governance in the right direction, unequivocally oppose acts of unilateralism and bullying, and jointly promote an equal and orderly multipolar world and a universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalization, per Chinese Foreign Ministry.

Sun Xiuwen, an associate professor at the Institute for Central Asian Studies at Lanzhou University, told the Global Times that joint commemoration reflects China and Russia's shared commitment to remembering history, fostering a correct interpretation of World War II history and defending the outcomes of the victory of the war and the post-war international order.

Looking ahead

Hao He, deputy research fellow at the Institute of Russian, Eastern European and Central Asian Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Monday that while a key part of the visit is commemorating history, its significance goes beyond the bilateral level, being critical for regional development and global governance.

Chinese and Russian leaders maintain frequent interactions. In October 2024, at the invitation of President Putin, President Xi visited Russia's Kazan for the 16th BRICS Summit. In May 2024, at the invitation of President Xi, President Putin paid a state visit to China, according to Xinhua.

Hao said that at the bilateral level, with the guidance of head of state diplomacy, China-Russia relations have consolidated its endogenous momentum.

The China-Russia partnership carries great significance in injecting positivity into the post-war international system which is facing great challenges, according to Hao.

According to Russian News Agency Tass, Putin in April named the UN Security Council, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and BRICS as examples of institutions where Moscow and Beijing are successfully working together.

The China-Russia relationship remains one of the cornerstones of global stability, and is crucial amid the turbulence in international politics and the global economy, Andrey Kortunov, director general of the Russian International Affairs Council, told the Global Times.

Beijing and Moscow share common or overlapping positions on many fundamental issues of security and development; they join forces in promoting multilateral groupings like BRICS and SCO; they share visions of a fair and democratic world order, said Kortunov.

The two countries can join hands to strengthen the strategic consensus to promote an equal and orderly multipolar world and a universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalization, safeguard the international system with the UN at its core and voice support for the multilateral trade system, which demonstrate "global significance and exemplar nature" of the relationship, said Zhao Long, deputy director of the Institute of Global Governance at the Shanghai Institute for International Studies.

This article first appeared in Global Times: https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202505/1333366.shtml