Present At The Summit In Uzbekistan, President Putin And Xi Jinping For The Bilateral Meeting: Discussion Of Taiwan And Ukraine?

Presidents Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin. (Wikimedia Commons/Kremlin.ru)

JAKARTA - Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping are scheduled to hold a bilateral meeting, discussing the current international issue, on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, Putin's aide, Yury Ushakov said Tuesday.

"Given the specificity of the current international situation, this meeting, of course, has special interests," Ushakov explained, launching TASS September 13.

"The leaders are planned to discuss the bilateral agenda and the regional and international main topics," he continued.

Ushakov further explained, this meeting was "a long-awaited personal contact," the second during the coronavirus pandemic period.

Their first private meeting took place in Beijing, when Putin attended the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in February, Ushakov recalled, adding "leaders guarding telephone contacts, exchanging messages."

The Kremlin's assistants estimate Presidents Putin and Xi "will provide a positive assessment of bilateral, high-level trust-based partnerships that have never happened before between their countries."

Moscow and Beijing "support a just, democratic and multipolar world order based on international law and the central role of the United Nations," he said, adding that among the topics were Ukraine and Taiwan.

In addition, in his words, President Putin and Xi will discuss SCO activities and their roles in international affairs. Among the bilateral topics, Ushakov cited the development of trade and economic cooperation.

"In the current difficult situation, amid Western sanctions, this collaboration shows sustainability and continues to grow and gain momentum," he said.

He recalled that bilateral trade was able to record up to 140 billion US dollars in 2021, growing by a quarter in the first seven months of 2022, to 93 billion US dollars.

"This gives reason to expect bilateral trade to break another record. Strategic cooperation is being expanded in the energy, investment and industry sectors," he explained.

"Russian oil and gas pipelines to China have increased, there have been new achievements in the development of cross-border transportation infrastructure, work continues to be improved and ensures the independence of bilateral financial infrastructure," concluded Ushakov.