Xi meets Putin, says China has a reliable partner

HONG KONG — As he left a state reception at the Kremlin on Tuesday, Chinese President Xi Jinping turned to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and said that the world was undergoing changes unlike those we haven't seen for 100 years. He said that we are the ones driving these changes together.

I agree that Putin shook hands with the Chinese leader in an exchange that was captured on camera.

Xi's three-day visit, his first since Putin invaded Ukraine last year, was the latest step in Beijing's attempt to promote an alternative international order that is less dominated by the United States. Experts told NBC News the extent to which Moscow weakened by a war now grinding into its second year may have to settle for playing second fiddle.

The trip brought promises of expanded economic cooperation and calls for even closer ties between Beijing and Moscow, even though both are on icy terms with Washington. Xi also invited Putin to China later this year.

The trip was valuable for Putin to signal that he is not internationally isolated and for Xi to signal to Washington that China has a reliable partner in its corner regardless of what new American-led pressures may emerge, said Amanda Hsiao, senior China analyst at the International Crisis Group.

Although the two leaders joint statement didn't mention of a no limits partnership like the one they declared weeks before the invasion of Ukraine last year, it was a clear statement from Beijing to the world of the steadfastness of the Russia-China alignment even at a cost to China's international image, Hsiao, who is based in Taipei, Taiwan, said in an email.

There was little sign of progress toward ending the war in Ukraine despite Putin's praise for a 12 point peace proposal China released last month that was dismissed by the U.S. and its allies as too favorable to Russia. Xi, who wants to portray China as a potential peacemaker in Ukraine and elsewhere, made little mention of the conflict during his visit.