Xi Jinping could hardly send a clearer signal. For the first time in two and a half years, China's head of state and party leader is staying abroad these days - and this Thursday in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, he will meet Vladimir Putin of all people at the sidelines of a conference of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. No international head of state has had the honor of such an away summit since the beginning of the pandemic. The fact that Xi is now bestowing it on Russia's president speaks volumes in view of the global situation.
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