beijing in the almost 1000 days since xi jinping last ventured abroad china has found itself increasingly isolated within the usled world order hes finally reemerging this week alongside russias vladimir putin to showcase his vision for a viable alternative xi and putin on thursday will hold their first inperson meeting since russia invaded ukraine according to the kremlin in a sign that beijing sees the relationship as crucial to countering the us it will occur on the sidelines of a chinesefounded security forum in uzbekistan that gathers countries ranging from india to iran a grouping that aims to accelerate the formation of a multipolar worldprior to that xi on wednesday will stop in kazakhstan where he unveiled what would become his signature beltandroad tradeandinfrastructure plan nine years ago that foreignpolicy initiative has since become a focal point of the us and its allies in the group of seven which in june announced plans to raise 600 billion in financing so lowerincome countries have an alternative to chinese cash both stops will reinforce xis vision of a world where china can expand its interests without fearing the threat of economic or military pressure from the us the chinese leader will expound on that agenda at a twiceadecade party congress next month during which hes expected to secure a third term as leader of the worlds secondbiggest economyxi jinping is trying to reorient global affairs in a direction that decenters western institutions and promotes groupings and institutions that are more favorable to chinas interests and worldview said trey mcarver cofounder of research firm trivium china xis meeting with putin he added sends a very clear signal that china continues to tilt toward the side of russia in that conflictthe stakes are rising for both xi and putin who declared a no limits friendship just weeks before russia invaded ukraine in february in recent days putin has seen ukraine push back russian forces and retake large swathes of land while xi has been under pressure to adopt stronger measures to prevent taiwan from boosting relations with the us and its allieschina has so far avoided doing anything that would make it subject to us sanctions or help russia win the war even as beijing provides putin with diplomatic support and increases trade with its northern neighbor chinas interest in helping russia appears more geared toward rebutting us moves that could also one day be used against beijingin an article published in a kazakh newspaper xi said the two countries should jointly push for an international order that is more just and more equitable top chinese diplomat yang jiechi used similar language in a meeting earlier this week with outgoing russian ambassador andrey denisovchina has not stepped up to supply russia with weapons or advanced electronics during the war said iikka korhonen head of research at bank of finland institute for economies in transition they are mindful of not violating these actions at least not in an obvious way so there are