Is Putin-Xi Friendship Symbolic or Substantive?

Is Putin-Xi friendship symbolic or substantive? Rawia Alami, Senior Presenter at Al Arabiya, clarifies.

Transcript

00:00Putin and Xi. Now, apparently, that's today's biggest, best friendship that we're seeing emerge.

00:04He referred to him as a dear friend and seen that there are unprecedented level of ties right now.

00:10How much of this do you think is symbolism? How much of it is actually substance that's going on here?

00:14I think it's a mix of both, a bit of symbolism and a bit of substance.

00:19Now, on the symbolic side, Putin calling the Chinese president as his dear friend, I think, is meant to show a united front with China,

00:33especially when the two leaders and their countries are facing a lot of pressure from the West, namely from the U.S.

00:39Russia is facing it over Ukraine and China is facing it over trade and security concerns.

00:45On the substantive side, it is basically substantive on many different levels.

00:51Let's start with the economic level. Economic ties are deepening between the two countries.

00:56There's a lot of coordination. Basically, China has become Russia's main energy buyer.

01:05And this is very significant for the Russians because it gives them a chance to offset the effects of the Western sanctions.

01:15And Russia also hopes that China or exports, energy exports to China and to other countries through China

01:23are going to basically compensate for all their losses because of the Western sanctions.

01:29On the military level, also militarily, the ties are deepening.

01:34There is a lot of coordination, military exercises and military consultations.

01:39And also on the political level, they are all aligned, pushing against a U.S.-backed alliance.