China’s Xi holds back-to-back calls with Putin, Trump
Trump says ties between the United States and China were "extremely good," following what he called an "excellent" phone call with counterpart Xi.
China’s President Xi Jinping held back-to-back conversations with the Russian and US presidents on Wednesday.
China's leader told Trump in a call they could resolve bilateral issues with mutual respect, Chinese state media said.
"By tackling issues one by one and continuously building mutual trust, we can forge the right way for the two countries to get along," Xi said, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
"Let us make 2026 a year in which China and the United States, as two major countries, move toward mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, and win-win cooperation," he added.
Trump
Trump said that ties between the United States and China were "extremely good," following what he called an "excellent" phone call with counterpart Xi.
"The relationship with China, and my personal relationship with President Xi, is an extremely good one, and we both realise how important it is to keep it that way," Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.
Trump said he and Xi discussed trade, Taiwan, Ukraine, and Iran, as well as a planned trip to China, which he said, "I very much look forward to."
Xi’s conversations with Putin and Trump came amid heightened tensions between Washington and Tehran and renewed diplomatic efforts to end the war in Ukraine, as the second phase of trilateral talks between Kiev, Moscow and Washington began in the United Arab Emirates.
Putin
The Xi-Putin call, which a Kremlin aide said lasted nearly an hour and a half, came ahead of the fourth anniversary of Russia's military offensive later this month.
"Since the beginning of the year, the international situation has become increasingly turbulent," Xi told Putin in a readout reported by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV, adding both sides should deepen strategic coordination to ensure relations “develop steadily along the right track.”
Addressing Xi as his "dear friend", Putin expressed a similar message, saying, "The foreign policy alliance between Moscow and Beijing remains an important stabilising factor.”
"The Russian-Chinese comprehensive partnership and strategic cooperation are exemplary," Putin said in the video broadcast on Russian state TV.
Neither leader went into detail on what strategic areas they would deepen coordination on.
Matching 'opinions' on the US
The Kremlin said Putin had accepted invitations to visit China in the first half of 2026 and attend the APEC regional summit hosted by Xi in November.
"The conversation lasted one hour and 25 minutes," Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters from AFP and other media outlets, saying the call was held in a "friendly and trusting atmosphere".
Putin praised trade ties, with Moscow redirecting its exports to Asia after Western countries imposed massive sanctions on Russia over the Kremlin's Ukraine offensive.
While ties between China and Russia have grown in recent years, with trade volume at around $200 billion last year, Beijing and Washington have seen ties stabilise after Xi and Trump met late last year in South Korea.
The video call took place as Russian, Ukrainian and US negotiators met in Abu Dhabi for a round of talks on ending the almost four-year war, which has turned into Europe's worst conflict since World War II.
Putin made no mention of Ukraine during the part of the call broadcast by Moscow, but the Kremlin later said Xi expressed support for the Abu Dhabi negotiations.
The pair discussed "opinions" on the United States, views that, according to the Kremlin,
The Kremlin also said Putin had told Xi that Moscow intends to act "responsibly" after a key nuclear pact with the US expires on Thursday.
And "special attention was given to the tense situation in Iran,” Kremlin aide Ushakov added.
UN commitment
The call with Putin follows a series of meetings between Xi and various leaders in recent months, as he consolidates diplomatic support in the face of an increasingly unpredictable United States.
During the call, Xi reiterated his commitment to the international system with the United Nations at its core.
Beijing has also sought to position itself as a stable alternative to Washington, hosting Western leaders, including US allies recoiling from Trump's bid to seize Greenland and tariff threats.