China

During his visit, Putin plans to emphasize growing trade ties with China near the Russian border.

Russia and China have announced a strategic partnership agreement that strengthens ties in energy, trade, security, and geopolitics, counteracts alleged U. S. attempts to upset the strategic balance, and supports each other on Ukraine and North Korea.

Xi Jinping said that China believes that political settlement in Ukraine is "the right direction", reaffirming China's position of respecting the sovereignty, territorial integrity and legitimate security interests of all countries.

Russia and China issued a joint statement in which, according to media reports, they expressed concern about the growing risks due to the deterioration of relations between the nuclear powers and promised to deepen military cooperation and expand joint exercises.

Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping touched upon the topic of Ukraine at a briefing.

Putin and Xi signed a joint statement defining new large-scale tasks and long-term prospects for deepening the comprehensive partnership and strategic cooperation between Russia and China.

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrives in China for a two-day visit to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping, his first foreign visit since his re-election.

France and the Netherlands propose that the EU impose sanctions on any financial institution worldwide that helps the Russian military obtain prohibited goods or dual-use technology.

China is indirectly supporting Russia in rebuilding its military-industrial complex by providing most of the military electronics components that help Russia produce more missiles, tanks and armored vehicles for its aggression against Ukraine, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said.

Blinken noted that the decision to negotiate with Russia should be made by Ukraine, not the United States or any other country, as Putin demonstrates completely different intentions every day, despite the fact that he claims to support the Chinese plan for a peaceful settlement.

On Wednesday, the price of bitcoin fell slightly to $62,000, despite the weakening dollar and a small positive movement.

Diplomats are trying to secure the participation of the Global South in the Peace Summit for Ukraine by focusing on a narrow set of goals. More than 160 countries have been invited to the Summit, which will take place on June 15-16.

Putin supports China's plan to resolve the war in Ukraine, saying that Beijing understands the conflict.

The US has raised tariffs on $18 billion worth of Chinese imports, including semiconductors, batteries, solar panels, electric vehicles, steel, aluminum, and medical equipment, with some tariff rates more than tripling to counter China's unfair trade practices.

Extreme weather conditions in China, including an unusually warm winter followed by torrential spring rains, destroyed nearly half of this year's $4 billion lychee crop.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that the upcoming Global Peace Summit in Switzerland will not discuss the process of ending the war in Ukraine, but will discuss issues such as nuclear safety, grain exports, prisoner exchange and the taboo on the use of nuclear weapons.

Last month, the U. S. and Taiwanese navies conducted joint exercises in the Pacific Ocean, which were not disclosed, practicing basic operations such as communications, refueling and resupply, Reuters reported.

Serbian Prime Minister Milos Vucevic expressed support for Ukraine's territorial integrity, but did not commit to sanctions against Russia.

Gazprom, once Russia's most profitable company, is facing a prolonged period of poor performance due to the loss of gas sales to Europe, trying to compensate for this at the expense of the domestic market and exports to China.

In April 2024, Ukrainians bought nearly 1,200 cars imported from China, with electric vehicles accounting for 77% of the total, according to the Ukravtoprom association.

Scholz hopes that Arab countries, India, South Africa, Brazil, and China will take part in the Peace Summit in Switzerland, which could be an important step toward resolving the Ukrainian-Russian conflict.

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis believes that Russian President Vladimir Putin's nuclear threats are a bluff, and that he has nothing to gain from the use of nuclear weapons, but can lose everything.

Ukraine insists on the presence of state leaders, not representatives, at the Global Peace Summit, according to Deputy Head of the Presidential Office Ihor Zhovkva.

Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to France, Serbia, and Hungary has strengthened China's relations with these countries and Europe, promoting cooperation and demonstrating China's growing international influence, Beijing said.

China's foreign direct investment fell by 56% in the first quarter of 2023 compared to the same period last year, amounting to $10. 3 billion.

The FBI is closely monitoring whether U. S. support for Ukraine could encourage Russia to take greater risks in potentially interfering in the 2024 U.S. presidential election.

The United States plans to introduce new rules to restrict Chinese companies' access to advanced artificial intelligence models developed by American tech giants such as Microsoft, OpenAI, and Alphabet for national security reasons.

The United States imposed new sanctions on 37 Chinese companies that allegedly provide technology to the Chinese defense industry, which poses a threat to US national security, some of which may be related to the incident with a Chinese balloon over US airspace last year.

American and Philippine forces sink a decommissioned Philippine Navy ship during a large-scale joint military exercise in the South China Sea that simulated combat operations with an enemy ship.

Oil prices rose on Thursday amid falling US crude stockpiles and increased Chinese imports, supporting expectations of rising demand in the world's two largest oil consuming countries.