Xi, Putin to attend global conference in Indonesia

China’s leader, Xi Jinping, and Russian President Vladimir Putin both plan to attend the Group of 20 summit in November, Indonesia’s president said, setting the stage for the highest-level global diplomatic meeting since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The summit could put the two leaders in the same room with President Biden and U.S. allies, who have thrown vast military support behind Ukraine and sought to isolate Russia. President Joko Widodo of Indonesia, which is hosting the meeting in Bali, said in an interview with Bloomberg News that Xi and Putin had told him of their plans to attend the summit.

Widodo extended the invitation this year to Putin as well as to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine. He did so after Biden said that Russia should be ousted from the G20 as a punishment for waging war on Ukraine.

Neither country has independently announced their leaders’ plans to attend in person. The visit would be Xi’s first foreign visit since the COVID-19 pandemic and the first global summit Putin has attended since the invasion.

While the United States and Europe have tried to create a united global front to counter Russia’s aggression, China has reaffirmed its ties to Russia. In February, weeks before the invasion, Xi said he had a friendship with “no limits” with Putin.

China has declined to provide direct military or economic support to Russia in its 6-month-old invasion, casting itself as a neutral arbiter on the conflict, but in a phone call in June with Putin, Xi offered to deepen relations between their nations and to build “closer bilateral strategic cooperation.”

Chinese officials and state media have stayed away from calling Russia’s attack on Ukraine a “war” or an “invasion.” Last week, the Chinese Defense Ministry said its troops would participate in military exercises in Russia; the countries have held joint drills in the past. The U.S. Commerce Department has accused Chinese companies of supporting Russia’s military in violation of sanctions.

China’s own military maneuvers will also be hanging over the G20 summit. Tensions over Taiwan, a selfgoverning democracy that Beijing claims as its territory, have reached their highest point in decades. China displayed its military might this month, encircling the island in moves timed around Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit.

In a call with Biden in late July, Xi warned that China would not tolerate “interference by external forces” on Taiwan’s status.