MOSCOW Chinese President Xi Jinping touted close ties with Russia on the second day of his state visit to Moscow on Tuesday, inviting Russian President Vladimir Putin to make a return visit later this year.
It fits the historical logic that Chinese leaders take Russia as a primary choice for their overseas visits, Mr Xi said, adding that China and Russia are each others biggest neighbour and comprehensive strategic partner, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
Russias invasion of Ukraine was a major topic for the leaders in more than four hours of talks Monday, according to both sides, with Mr Putin saying before the meeting that hes ready to discuss Chinas initiative for ending the war.
Mr Putin welcomed Mr Xi to the Kremlin on Tuesday afternoon for more discussions. Russian state television showed the two men walking the long red carpets of the Kremlin to shake hands before joining their delegations.
The United States and its allies have rejected Chinas proposals as biased toward Russia.
Mr Xi is expected to speak to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for the first time since the February 2022 invasion after his Russia visit.
Mr Xis three-day visit, his first trip abroad since claiming a third term earlier this month, sends a strong signal of support for Mr Putin amid efforts by the US and its allies to isolate the Russian President over his invasion.
Russia has become increasingly dependent on China for trade with other markets cut off, but there were few indications that this visit would bring new deals.
Mr Putin and Mr Xi had an in-depth exchange of views on the Ukraine issue, Chinas Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday. It added that most countries support easing tensions, but the ministry did not go into further details.
China would continue to strengthen strategic coordination with Russia, Mr Xi also said, according to the statement.
Mr Xi met in the morning Tuesday with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, who called for deepening economic ties and received his own invitation to visit China.
Later Tuesday, the two sides are expected to sign several declarations, and Mr Xi and Mr Putin will make press statements before a state dinner in the Tsarist-era Palace of Facets. Russian President Vladimir Putin (right) meets China’s President Xi Jinping at the Kremlin in Moscow, on March 21, 2023. PHOTO: AFP US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby dismissed the visit as a marriage of convenience.
President Xi finds himself in this weird position wanting the war to end but not wanting Russia to lose, he said on MSNBC.
Chinas ceasefire paper has little detail and largely consists of broader foreign policy positions long espoused by Beijing. While its embrace of the principle of territorial integrity won praise in Kyiv, which seeks to drive Russian forces back across the border, a ceasefire call that would freeze forces in current positions is a non-starter. More On This Topic Putin tells Xi he will discuss Chinas blueprint for ending Ukraine conflict Dear friends Xi and Putin meet in Moscow as Ukraine war rages For Mr Putin, Mr Xi is by far the most significant international leader to visit since the invasion, which triggered Europes deadliest conflict since World War II and waves of sanctions by the US and its allies.
Mr Xis arrival comes just days after the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for Mr Putins arrest on charges of war crimes. Russia has dismissed the move, and China called for the court to avoid politicisation.
The Chinese leader last visited Russia in mid-2019, while Mr Putin went to Beijing in early 2022 to attend the opening of the Winter Olympics. At that meeting, the two leaders agreed to a no-limits friendship and signed a series of long-term energy supply deals.
The two met in September last year at a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, where Mr Putin said he understands Beijings questions and concerns about his invasion of Ukraine, a rare admission of tensions between the diplomatic allies.BLOOMBERG More On This Topic China's Xi to Putin: Russians will support you in 2024 election China's Xi Jinping out to play peacemaker on Russia visit
After yesterday’s royal welcome from the King, French President Emmanuel Macron will get down to business today, meeting Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer for lunch, after PMQs.
But, as Sky News’ Sam Coates and Politico’s Anne McElvoy discuss on this episode, away from the pomp, Sir Keir’s in-tray doesn’t look any less challenging.
It includes a headache for Health Secretary Wes Streeting as resident doctors, formerly known as junior doctors, announce a new strike – and there is as a punchy warning from the OBR on making financial promises to the public.
Also today, the welfare bill returns to the House of Commons, with reports of another rebellion brewing.
While the politicians talk, so many people come from around the world to try to get across the Channel on small boats. But why?
Why make such a perilous crossing to try to get to a country that seems to be getting increasingly hostile to asylum seekers?
As the British and French leaders meet, with small boats at the forefront of their agenda, we came to northern France to get some answers.
It is not a new question, but it is peppered with fresh relevance.
Over the course of a morning spent around a migrant camp in Dunkirk, we meet migrantsfrom Gaza, Iraq, Eritrea, South Sudan, Sri Lanka and beyond.
Some are fearful, waving us away; some are happy to talk. Very few are comfortable to be filmed.
All but one man – who says he’s come to the wrong place and actually wants to claim asylum in Paris – are intent on reaching Britain.
They see the calm seas, feel the light winds – perfect conditions for small boat crossings.
John has come here from South Sudan. He tells me he’s now 18 years old. He left his war-torn home nation just before his 16th birthday. He feels that reaching Britain is his destiny.
“England is my dream country,” he says. “It has been my dream since I was at school. It’s the country that colonised us and when I get there, I will feel like I am home.
“In England, they can give me an opportunity to succeed or to do whatever I need to do in my life. I feel like I am an English child, who was born in Africa.”
Image: ‘England is my dream country,’ John tells Adam Parsons
He says he would like to make a career in England, either as a journalist or in human resources, and, like many others we meet, is at pains to insist he will work hard.
The boat crossing is waved away as little more than an inconvenience – a trifle compared with the previous hardships of his journey towards Britain.
We meet a group of men who have all travelled from Gaza, intent on starting new lives in Britain and then bringing their families over to join them.
One man, who left Gaza two years ago, tells me that his son has since been shot in the leg “but there is no hospital for him to go to”.
Next to him, a man called Abdullah says he entered Europe through Greece and stayed there for months on end, but was told the Greek authorities would never allow him to bring over his family.
Britain, he thinks, will be more accommodating. “Gaza is being destroyed – we need help,” he says.
Image: Abdullah says ‘Gaza is being destroyed – we need help’
A man from Eritreatells us he is escaping a failing country and has friends in Britain – he plans to become a bicycle courier in either London or Manchester.
He can’t stay in France, he says, because he doesn’t speak French. The English language is presented as a huge draw for many of the people we talk to, just as it had been during similar conversations over the course of many years.
I ask many of these people why they don’t want to stay in France, or another safe European country.
Some repeat that they cannot speak the language and feel ostracised. Another says that he tried, and failed, to get a residency permit in both France and Belgium.
But this is also, clearly, a flawed survey. Last year, five times as many people sought asylum in France as in Britain.
And French critics have long insisted that Britain, a country without a European-style ID card system, makes itself attractive to migrants who can “disappear”.
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Migrant Channel crossings hit new record
A young man from Iraq, with absolutely perfect English, comes for a chat. He oozes confidence and a certain amount of mischief.
It has taken him only seven days to get from Iraq to Dunkirk; when I ask how he has made the trip so quickly, he shrugs. “Money talks”.
He looks around him. “Let me tell you – all of these people you see around you will be getting to Britain and the first job they get will be in the black market, so they won’t be paying any tax.
“Back in the day in Britain, they used to welcome immigrants very well, but these days I don’t think they want to, because there’s too many of them coming by boat. Every day it’s about seven or 800 people. That’s too many people.”
“But,” I ask, “if those people are a problem – then what makes you different? Aren’t you a problem too?”
He shakes his head emphatically. “I know that I’m a very good guy. And I won’t be a problem. I’ll only stay in Britain for a few years and then I’ll leave again.”
A man from Sri Lanka says he “will feel safe” when he gets to Britain; a tall, smiling man from Ethiopia echoes the sentiment: “We are not safe in our home country so we have come all this way,” he says. “We want to work, to be part of Britain.”
Emmanuel is another from South Sudan – thoughtful and eloquent. He left his country five years ago – “at the start of COVID” – and has not seen his children in all that time. His aim is to start a new life in Britain, and then to bring his family to join him.
He is a trained electrical engineer, but says he could also work as a lorry driver. He is adamant that Britain has a responsibility to the people of its former colony.
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Axiom 4 mission’s crewmates began conducting biomedical research aboard the International Space Station on Tuesday. Expedition 73 and Ax-4 crews found electrical muscle stimulation and cellular immunity. The Cargo transfers and exercise gear maintenance take a day for orbital residents.
Takuya Onishi, Situation Commander from JAXA( Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), has begun the shift in continuation of his space biology studies. His blood and saliva samples are being collected for storage and processing. Further, he spun the specimens in a centrifuge and placed the blood samples in the freezer. After that, he stowed the samples in the incubator.
JAXA’s Takuya Onishi Leads Cellular Immunity Study with Blood and Saliva Analysis
According to a report from NASA, the samples will be analysed to determine the effect of microgravity on cellular immunity, observe stress-related immune reactions, and learn about how to treat symptoms of immunity. The flight engineers Johnny Kim, Anne McClain, and Nichole Ayers spent their day on orbital lab maintenance and further support activities of the crew. Kim focused mainly on orbital plumbing as he replaced and drained the Tranquillity module.
Ayers checked cables and power components in the Destiny laboratory module and deactivated and placed the microscope. McClain took the cognition test on the laptop and kept on supporting the Ax-4 crew at a time of a busy schedule.
Ax-4 Crew Explores Muscle Stimulation and Space Suit Fabric Efficiency in Microgravity
Veteran astronaut Peggy Whitson and her Ax-4 crewmates Shubhanshu Shukla, Tibor Kapu and UznaÅ„ski-WiÅ›niewski conducted numerous space investigations throughout the lab. The private scientists in their second full week on the station found out that the electrical muscle simulation escalates the space-related and muscle atrophy in space. Ax-4’s other experiments looked at suit fabrics promote thermal comfort with exercising the weightlessness, crew health and agriculture in space.
Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritskiy worked together on the Zvezda service module, repairing and organising components on a treadmill, one of the two inside the space station, which included the COLBERT treadmill. Kirill Peskov started his day by going through the biological samples from the crewmates. At the end of his shift, he transfers water from Progress 92 cargo craft and unloads the stuffs of hardware and crew supplies.