Putin, Xi Affirm Russian-Chinese Cooperation to Counter Western Pressure

Mr. Xi accused “certain forces in the world” of meddling in both countries’ domestic affairs under the pretext of democracy and human rights. He told Mr. Putin that “efforts must be made to firmly reject hegemonic acts and the Cold War mentality under the disguise of multilateralism and rules,” according to China’s Foreign Ministry.

The meeting allowed the countries to spotlight their deepening relationship, presenting it as a counterweight to President Biden’s continuing efforts to unify democratic countries. A perception in Beijing and Moscow of diminished U.S. power is partly behind the growing cooperation, analysts said.

The relationship remains far from the sort of security alliance that has long underpinned U.S. foreign policy. China, in particular, remains concerned about getting dragged into the type of foreign conflicts that it believes have weakened the U.S.

That is especially true as Mr. Xi faces a range of issues at home, most notably an economy that has slowed amid a reeling property market, weakening consumer demand and other factors.

The two leaders made their remarks amid pressure from the West for alleged transgressions. Members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization recently have accused Russia of amassing troops on its border with Ukraine as a prelude to invade its smaller neighbor. Foreign ministers from the Group of Seven—which is made up of the world’s largest developed economies—have warned the Kremlin of severe consequences if Russia invades Ukraine, which Moscow denies it is planning.

China, meanwhile, has faced criticism over its suppression of a largely Muslim minority group and other human-rights abuses, characterizations that Beijing rejects. The Biden administration said this month it wouldn’t send U.S. officials to attend the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing in February. Other countries, including Britain and Australia, said they would join the diplomatic boycott.

Those moves make it harder for Beijing to show domestic audiences that the Winter Games—and, by extension, China—have broad international support. It could also complicate a tentative effort that Mr. Biden and the Chinese leader discussed in their virtual meeting in November to find areas of cooperation in a relationship marked by competition over trade, technology, military power and global influence.

The Kremlin has raised concerns about the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s influence in Ukraine and military deployments in neighboring countries. Russia is demanding legally binding security guarantees that the Western alliance won’t expand further eastward, with Moscow saying that would encroach on its own traditional sphere of influence.

Mr. Putin informed Mr. Xi that concrete proposals to develop legal guarantees of Russia’s security were presented to U.S. representatives at Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Wednesday, according to Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov. The Chinese president offered support for Mr. Putin’s push for such guarantees and said he understood Moscow’s concerns, Mr. Ushakov said. China’s readout of the presidents’ meeting made no mention of Ukraine.

Mr. Putin also told Mr. Xi that he plans to attend the opening of the Winter Games and looks forward to an in-person meeting, Mr. Ushakov said.

Mr. Xi hasn’t traveled outside China during the pandemic, holding only virtual meetings with foreign leaders. Mr. Putin’s visit to Beijing would be the first face-to-face encounter between the two leaders in two years. Mr. Xi said he hoped the occasion would allow for “in-depth discussions on bilateral relations and major international and regional issues, and reach more new, important common understandings,” China’s Foreign Ministry said.

Perceptions in Moscow and Beijing that Washington is trying to put pressure on Russia and China have prompted both countries to coordinate on a range of issues, analysts said.

“The current political situation, of course, motivates Moscow and Beijing to move closer [together],” said Vladimir Petrovsky, chief research fellow at the Center for Russian-Chinese Relations, Studies and Forecasting at the Institute of Far Eastern Studies in Moscow. “We are talking about public support for certain actions in the international arena. But the main thing is that it’s about policy coordination.”

While Russia is concerned that NATO is expanding eastward, China is worried about U.S. encroachment into the Asia-Pacific region. Mr. Ushakov said the two leaders criticized the creation of new military pacts, such as the recently formed AUKUS security alliance under which Britain and the U.S. will help Australia to build nuclear submarine capabilities.

“They are bringing their war machine closer to the shores of China,” Mr. Petrovsky said. “They talk about how they will protect Taiwan. These are very painful questions for China.”

The White House in October reiterated the U.S. policy of “strategic ambiguity” toward Taiwan after Mr. Biden appeared to signal the U.S. would help defend it from an attack.

Mr. Xi highlighted Russia’s support of Beijing over Taiwan, which China claims as its territory, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said. The U.S. has been trying to raise Taiwan’s profile as a bulwark against Chinese intimidation. The Biden administration invited Taiwan to participate in a meeting of democracies held last week, further testing efforts to cool U.S.-China tensions.

Each year, China gains more of an upper hand in its relationship with Russia, particularly as the Russian economy continues to sag and as it grows increasingly dependent on exporting oil and gas to China’s energy-hungry consumers and factories.

Beijing’s increasing power is all the more reason for Moscow to tout their closeness. “Russia has a lot more to gain than China from any kind of closer relationship,” said Neil Thomas, China analyst at Eurasia Group, a political-risk consulting firm.

The countries hold historical enmity, including deadly border conflicts that led China and the Soviet Union to the brink of war in 1969.

Russia has touted its strengthening ties with China in recent years, with Mr. Putin boasting earlier this year that “Russia-China relations have reached their highest level in history.”

Analysts who cover Sino-Russian relations say the two countries have developed a dynamic, powerful synergy after years of distrust and suspicion.

It is “a deepening strategic partnership with expanding security and economic ties,” said Alexander Gabuev, a senior fellow and Sinologist at the Carnegie Moscow Center, a think tank. “It’s mutually beneficial, but it’s increasingly asymmetric, with Russia needing China increasingly more than the other way around, and that gives China additional leverage.”

Moscow is weighing what it can gain from accommodating but not wholly bowing to Beijing, with economic benefits high on the list, analysts say.

“China and Russia are an exact match made in heaven in terms of economic structures,” Mr. Gabuev said. “Russia has an abundance of natural resources—oil, gas, metals, fertilizers, foodstuff—and it needs capital and it needs foreign technology. China is exactly the opposite: It needs natural resources to fuel its growth. It has cutting-edge technology. It has a surplus of capital.”

Russia, which has the world’s largest proven gas reserves, needs cash as its economy buckles under Western sanctions. China, with the world’s second-largest economy after the U.S., needs fuel and wants to wean itself off coal.

The $55 billion, 1,865-mile Power of Siberia pipeline, which began operations in 2019, is forecast to deliver up to 38 billion cubic meters of Russian natural gas to China by 2025.

For the first 11 months of this year, bilateral trade between China rose 31% to $123 billion, Mr. Putin said Wednesday.

“We have already broken records from 2019, before the pandemic,” he said. “In the near future, as we agreed, we will surpass the $200 billion mark.”

Russia and China are authoritarian regimes that understand each other well, analysts said.

China hasn’t publicly opposed the Kremlin’s crackdown on political opposition and media freedoms, and Moscow has refrained from criticizing Beijing’s widely reported mistreatment of China’s minority Uyghur population.

On Wednesday, Mr. Xi praised China and Russia as “upholding fairness and justice in the world,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry said.

—Sofia McFarland and Valentina Ochirova contributed to this article.

Write to Ann M. Simmons at ann.simmons@wsj.com and Brian Spegele at brian.spegele@wsj.com