Chinese President Xi Jinping is going to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on March 20-22. The purpose of this visit is to strengthen economic relations between China and Russia and find a solution to end the war in Ukraine.
It may or may not be a coincidence, but the timing of Xi Jinping’s visit comes at a time when China has become increasingly important in the Ukraine conflict. However, some events are unintentional. Ukraine’s military authorities told CNN that they shot down a China-made Mugin-5 drone.
China’s Xiamen-based drone manufacturing company Mugin Limited. The company says its unmanned aerial vehicles (UABs) are not intended for military use, but for humanitarian use. In a statement, the company said, “We strongly condemn the use of our drones for military purposes.” Since the start of the Ukraine conflict, we have stopped taking orders from Russia and Ukraine.
According to the information from the Ukrainian army, on the morning of March 11, a Mugin-5 drone was flying toward Ukraine from the territory occupied by Russian troops. The drone was carrying 20 kg of explosives. Ukrainian troops shot it down with AK-47 rifles. Weapons experts say the drone was not equipped with cameras similar to those found in surveillance drones and was not targeted; Rather, it was carrying explosives aimlessly.
The Mugin-5 drone is known as the Alibaba Drone. These drones will be available on major e-commerce platforms for $12,998.52.
The meeting between Xi Jinping and Putin was announced shortly after an event much bigger than the downing of the Mugin drone. That is, the US-made MQ-Reaper drone crashed in the Black Sea after colliding with two Russian Su-29 aircraft.
The US military released 42 seconds of unclassified footage. It shows a Russian jet fueling the drone. Each MQ Reaper-9 drone costs $32 million to manufacture.
In these incidents, the tension around Ukraine escalated last week. In the meantime, China’s Foreign Minister Qin Gang called Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba. Adding to the tension surrounding the Ukraine crisis, he expressed Beijing’s concern and said the situation could go beyond everyone’s control.
Qin Gang said all sides should remain calm, rational, and restrained and start peace talks as soon as possible. China will continue to play a constructive role in promoting ceasefires, cessation of hostilities, crisis mitigation, and restoration of peace.
Earlier, on the anniversary of the Russia-Ukraine war on February 24, Beijing offered a 12-point peace proposal. The resolution calls for a ceasefire and open dialogue for a political solution to the conflict.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said last Friday that this visit is a visit of friendship, cooperation, and peace. China will take a realistic and fair position on the Ukraine crisis, and China will play a constructive role in the initiation of peace talks.
The Chinese spokesperson also said that based on these three principles of non-alignment, non-conflict, and non-targeting of third parties, the two sides will play a role in real multilateralism, the democratization of international relations, creation of a multipolar world system, development of global good governance and development and progress of the world. will be able
China’s spokesperson also said that China-Russia relations are open relations. This relationship is transparent and free from third-party interference and coercion. China has always been prudent and responsible when it comes to arms exports and adheres to appropriate laws and regulations for exports of dual-purpose (military and civilian) products.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin, without naming the United States, said some countries were fueling the situation in Ukraine by supplying weapons and assigning unilateral sanctions.
Meanwhile, according to Russian media reports, several two-sided agreements will be signed in the meeting between China and Putin. China’s ambassador to Russia said, especially when the world has become unstable, China-Russia relations should move forward calmly. In the past decade, China-Russia integrated strategic relationship has entered in a new era, with different experiences in the international arena.
The Chinese ambassador said that the trade relations between the two countries reached 190.27 billion dollars in the last year. The trade volume in first two months of this year is 33.69 billion dollars.