By Héribert‑Label Élisée ADJOVI
It is official: President Vladimir Putin will make a state visit to Beijing from May 19 to 20, 2026. The announcement was confirmed on Saturday, May 16, 2026, by a spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and by the Kremlin. This clearly underscores the strategic importance of the event: China speaks with the United States, but consolidates its axis with the Russian Federation.
Officially, the meeting is part of the Sino‑Russian comprehensive partnership and the 25th anniversary of the Treaty of Good‑Neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation between the two major world powers, both permanent members of the UN Security Council. On this occasion, discussions between the delegations of the two countries in general, and Presidents Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin in particular, will focus on economic, energy, and technological cooperation, as well as major international issues: Ukraine, Iran, the Strait of Hormuz, Taiwan, reform of the world order, and Western pressures. Several bilateral agreements and a joint declaration are expected. Clearly, Beijing and Moscow will achieve two goals at once: consolidating their strategic partnership and revisiting the recent visit of U.S. President Donald Trump, further refining their alliance for a new world order in which the Global South carries the banner of a community with a shared future for humanity. In concrete terms, this means dismantling the old model, where the West (the United States, Europe, and their extensions) imposed the law of the jungle, equating power with the destruction of everything that promotes cohesion between man, nature, and the divine.
The contrast with Trump’s visit is striking, even before President Vladimir Putin sets foot on Chinese soil. Washington seeks guarantees and aims to maintain its influence in a multipolar world. Moscow, by contrast, arrives in a relationship of strategic continuity, nurtured by years of sanctions and rapprochement with Beijing. After the dissolution of the Soviet bloc on December 26, 1991, President Boris Yeltsin believed in the sincerity of the West, embracing the “Washington Consensus” with its structural adjustment programs and liberal orthodoxy. The outcome is well known: Russia was brought to its knees. It took Vladimir Putin’s rise to power in 2000 for the Russian Federation to regain its footing, based on its own development model—just as the People’s Republic of China had rejected the “Washington Consensus” after the political and social chaos of the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976). In practice, Beijing and Moscow concluded that their history with the West has always been a “fool’s bargain.” In other words, the United States, Europe, and their allies view relations with the rest of the world only through domination, exploitation, and worse—colonization and enslavement. Hence, the creation of BRICS reflects the clear will of China and Russia to propose, ultimately, an integrated model of human development where life is good for all. The signal sent by the announcement of Putin’s upcoming state visit to China is clear: China dialogues with its American rival, but builds its geopolitical future with Russia.
For BRICS capitals and beyond, this sequence illustrates a shift: the West remains powerful, but can no longer impose the rules of the international game alone. Beijing does not choose between Washington and Moscow; it engages both, but the Sino‑Russian axis now appears as a central pillar of the multipolar architecture. For the rest of the world, and especially Africa, the lesson is to find its own path—building its own development model and shaping relations with the world in line with its interests. The China‑Russia partnership sets the example, just as China‑Africa relations serve as a mirror, offering Africa the chance to achieve its own “miracle” in multifaceted: economic independence, monetary independence, strategic and security independence—in short, true sovereignty. President Xi Jinping, through multiple initiatives for a community with a shared future for humanity (Global Development Initiative, Global Security Initiative, Global Civilization Initiative, Global Governance Initiative), places Beijing at the heart of the planet’s future. President Vladimir Putin’s state visit, following that of President Donald Trump, is a perfect illustration. As the “cradle of humanity,” Africa must draw inspiration from this to finally overcome fatalism—on the basis of its own model.