Russian President Dmitry Medvedev arrived in Beijing yesterday on his first trip abroad since taking office, hoping to boost energy and political ties with China amid tension between Moscow and Washington.
China is the first stop outside the former Soviet Union for Medvedev, who arrived in Beijing after visiting energy-rich Kazakhstan. He was to meet later yesterday with Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤).
Ahead of his China trip, Medvedev, 42, who on May 7 succeeded president Vladimir Putin, emphasized the importance of Russia’s growing neighbor.
“Our foreign policy should be reasonable, pragmatic and at the same time friendly and open. And we absolutely include China among our most important foreign policy partners,” Medvedev said in an interview with Chinese journalists before his arrival.
Moscow and Beijing have pursued increasingly close ties, aligning their positions in international diplomacy and cooperating on defense within the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a security group that includes four Central Asian states.
However, tensions remain between the two.
China and Russia are competing for Central Asia’s oil and gas, which was exclusively Moscow’s preserve in Soviet times.
There is also rivalry in the defense sphere, with some officials in Moscow reportedly worried about Beijing gaining too much access to Russian military secrets through increased defense sales to China.
Nevertheless, Medvedev said on Thursday while in Kazakhstan that the two countries were close to reaching agreement on building a pipeline from Siberia’s oil fields to energy-hungry China.
“We currently have a basic agreement on this and today are at the concluding stage in talks between Rosneft and CNPC [Russia’s and China’s state oil companies],” Medvedev said in an interview posted on the Kremlin Web site.
Nonetheless, as it battles what it views as Western expansionism on its western borders, Russia has sought to make friends with China.
China has supported Russia’s steadfast opposition to US plans to build a missile defense shield in central and eastern Europe.
The two countries are veto-wielding permanent members of the UN Security Council, where they have been coordinating their positions on controversial issues such as Kosovan independence, which they both oppose.
Russia has also refused to join international criticism of China’s human-rights record in the run-up to this summer’s Beijing Olympics.
Analysts saw symbolism in Medvedev’s choice of heading first to China.
Since taking office, Medvedev has refrained from openly assailing the West in the style of his mentor and predecessor Putin, who remains highly influential in the prime minister’s post.
“This is a signal that Russia has other friends, not only the West,” said analyst Fyodor Lukyanov, editor of the journal Russia in Global Affairs.
As China’s production sector booms, the country’s exports to Russia have jumped 15-fold between 2002 and last year. Russian exports to China have also risen, mostly because of exports of oil.
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
SUPPORT: The Australian prime minister promised to back Kyiv against Russia’s invasion, saying: ‘That’s my government’s position. It was yesterday. It still is’ Left-leaning Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday basked in his landslide election win, promising a “disciplined, orderly” government to confront cost-of-living pain and tariff turmoil. People clapped as the 62-year-old and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, who visited his old inner Sydney haunt, Cafe Italia, surrounded by a crowd of jostling photographers and journalists. Albanese’s Labor Party is on course to win at least 83 seats in the 150-member parliament, partial results showed. Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s conservative Liberal-National coalition had just 38 seats, and other parties 12. Another 17 seats were still in doubt. “We will be a disciplined, orderly