WASHINGTON (NewsNation) — As China and Russia showcased their ties Wednesday, new reports suggested that Chinese President Xi Jinping himself is planning to visit Russia and meet with President Vladimir Putin in the next few months amid U.S. warnings against the deepening relationship between the two nations.
There is now a larger concern that the relationship between Beijing and Moscow is only growing stronger as Wang Yi, the Chinese Communist Party’s most senior foreign policy official, visited Moscow as the conflict in Ukraine continued to upend the global diplomatic order.
The meeting laid the groundwork for an expected visit by China’s leader this spring. Putin said Wednesday that the partnership between the two countries is reaching new frontiers.
But the two countries’ friendship isn’t sitting too well with U.S. officials.
The U.S. remains concerned that China is considering supplying weapons to Russia.
Beijing claims it wants to play a more active role in bringing an end to the conflict in Ukraine. Jinping is expected to reiterate China’s calls in November to avoid using nuclear weapons.
Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh said Wednesday there would be “consequences” if China further deepened its relationship with Russia.
“We haven’t seen (China) give lethal aid to Russia at this time for the war, but they haven’t also taken that off the table,” Singh said.
The timing of this week’s visit by Yi comes after Putin suspended Russia’s participation in its last remaining nuclear arms treaty with the U.S. That deal capped the number of nuclear weapons deployed to around 1,500 and eased tensions between the two largest nuclear powers.
Russia already controls nearly 6,000 warheads, compared to just over 5,400 warheads in the U.S. A recent Pentagon report claimed China is quickly ramping up its program and could have 1,500 warheads by 2035.
In the meantime, Russia claims it won’t deploy more strategic nuclear arms, but with the treaty’s suspension — which ends inspections of Russian facilities — there may not be a way to know.