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China-Russia relations
ChinaDiplomacy

Xi and Putin vow to ‘significantly increase’ trade between China and Russia

  • The Russian president also promotes the wider use of the Chinese yuan as an international currency
  • The second day of talks covers security and financial issues, with the leaders signing an economic cooperation joint statement

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Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin pose during a signing ceremony following their meeting at The Kremlin. Photo: Kremlin/dpa
Mark Magnierin New York

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged on Tuesday to “significantly increase” trade between their two countries by 2030, and Putin threw his weight behind wider globalisation of the yuan, a move aimed at weakening the power of the US dollar.

“We are for the use of the Chinese yuan in settlements between Russia and Asian countries, Africa, Latin America,” Putin said, according to the RIA Novosti news service. “This practice should be further encouraged.”

Xi and Putin held a second round of talks on Tuesday discussing security and economic issues, including energy, resources and information technology; the leaders also signed a joint statement pledging cooperation through 2030.

Additionally, Xi invited Putin to China for this year’s Belt and Road Forum, both Xinhua and Russia’s Sputnik news agency reported.

Russia and China have long decried the inordinate strength of the US dollar – the de facto global currency – and the leverage it gives Washington to flex its muscles well beyond the confines of finance.

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