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Xi and Putin Meet to Reaffirm China-Russia Ties Days After Trump’s Visit to Beijing

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping pose for a picture during a meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China May 20, 2026. (Sputnik/Maxim Stulov/Pool via Reuters)
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping pose for a picture during a meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China May 20, 2026. (Sputnik/Maxim Stulov/Pool via Reuters)
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Xi and Putin Meet to Reaffirm China-Russia Ties Days After Trump’s Visit to Beijing

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping pose for a picture during a meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China May 20, 2026. (Sputnik/Maxim Stulov/Pool via Reuters)
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping pose for a picture during a meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China May 20, 2026. (Sputnik/Maxim Stulov/Pool via Reuters)

Chinese leader Xi Jinping welcomed Russian President Vladimir Putin in Beijing on Wednesday in a meeting meant to reaffirm ties and that takes place only days after a visit by US President Donald Trump to China.

Xi welcomed Putin with a ceremony at the Great Hall of the People. The two delegations later held bilateral talks, to be followed by a ceremony for signing cooperation agreements.

Putin’s visit comes just days after Trump’s own trip to Beijing – in a sequence that is meant to cement Beijing’s image as an influential superpower, experts say.

“The message is clearly one that China maintains friendship and strategic partnership with whichever power it likes, and the USA is just one of them,” said Steve Tsang, director of the SOAS China Institute at the University of London.

Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said earlier that there was “no connection” between Trump and Putin’s visits, noting the trip by the Russian leader was agreed several days after Putin and Xi spoke via videoconference on Feb. 4.

The Russian and Chinese leaders are set to discuss energy and security as well as their overall ties. The two sides agreed to extend a friendship treaty first signed in 2001, Chinese state media reported.

China became Russia's top trading partner following after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Beijing has said it is neutral in the conflict while maintaining trade ties with the Kremlin despite economic and financial sanctions by the US and Europe.

China is the top customer for Russian oil and gas supplies, and Moscow expects the war in Iran to increase the demand. China also has ignored demands from the West to stop providing high-tech components for Russia’s weapons industries.

Ushakov said Russia’s oil exports to China grew by 35% in the first quarter of 2026 and that Russia is one of the biggest exporters of natural gas to China.

During “the crisis in the Middle East,” Russia remains a reliable energy supplier and China is a “responsible consumer,” Ushakov said.

Putin noted earlier this month that Moscow and Beijing have reached “a very substantial step forward in our cooperation in the oil and gas sector.”

“Practically all the key issues have been agreed upon,” he said. “If we succeed in finalizing these details and bringing them to a conclusion during this visit, I will be extremely pleased.”

Putin also praised their bilateral relationship as a crucial, balancing force in international relations.

“Interaction between such nations as China and Russia undoubtedly serves as a factor of deterrence and stability,” he said.

Moscow welcomes China’s dialogue with the US as another stabilizing element for the global economy, Putin added.

“We stand only to benefit from this, from the stability and constructive engagement between the US and China,” he said.

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World

Torrential Rain and Floods Batter China, Killing at Least 12 and Forcing Mass Evacuations

Cars partially submerged in floodwaters after heavy rainfall in Duyun, Guizhou Province, China, May 19, 2026, in this still image obtained from a social media video. (Social Media/via Reuters)
Cars partially submerged in floodwaters after heavy rainfall in Duyun, Guizhou Province, China, May 19, 2026, in this still image obtained from a social media video. (Social Media/via Reuters)
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Torrential Rain and Floods Batter China, Killing at Least 12 and Forcing Mass Evacuations

Cars partially submerged in floodwaters after heavy rainfall in Duyun, Guizhou Province, China, May 19, 2026, in this still image obtained from a social media video. (Social Media/via Reuters)
Cars partially submerged in floodwaters after heavy rainfall in Duyun, Guizhou Province, China, May 19, 2026, in this still image obtained from a social media video. (Social Media/via Reuters)

Torrential rain and floods hit parts of China this week, killing at least 12 people and forcing tens of thousands of people to evacuate, state media reported.

State broadcaster CCTV reported on Wednesday five deaths and 11 people missing in Shimen County of Hunan province in central China after rain battered the region. A rescue operation is underway. By Tuesday evening, more than 19,000 had been relocated, Chinese official news agency Xinhua reported.

Xinhua said the county recorded a cumulative rainfall of 339 millimeters (about 13 inches) within a 24-hour period ending at 7 a.m. on Monday. One of its towns once received a rainfall of 240 millimeters (about 9 inches) within just a few hours, breaking historical records, it said.

In nearby Hubei province, some streets were turned into rivers and rescuers had to deploy inflatable boats to help stranded residents. Some houses were flooded or collapsed, Xinhua reported. Three people were killed and four others were missing as of Tuesday morning, it said.

CCTV on Tuesday also reported that heavy rain and floods have caused four deaths and left five others missing in Guizhou Province in southwestern China. In some areas, houses flooded, roads were damaged, and communications were disrupted, it said. One area had to relocate more than 3,700 people, Xinhua added.

Flood-induced casualties are common in China. Last July, rains and flooding killed dozens of people in Beijing.

Separately, 10 people were killed after a pickup truck fell off a bridge in the southern region of Guangxi on Saturday, Xinhua reported.

World

Ebola, Hantavirus Show World’s Risk Preparedness Lagging, Says Pandemic Expert

A health worker monitors visitors arriving at the Rodolphe Merieux Laboratory, National Biomedical Research Institute (INRB) in Goma, on May 19, 2026. (AFP)
A health worker monitors visitors arriving at the Rodolphe Merieux Laboratory, National Biomedical Research Institute (INRB) in Goma, on May 19, 2026. (AFP)
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Ebola, Hantavirus Show World’s Risk Preparedness Lagging, Says Pandemic Expert

A health worker monitors visitors arriving at the Rodolphe Merieux Laboratory, National Biomedical Research Institute (INRB) in Goma, on May 19, 2026. (AFP)
A health worker monitors visitors arriving at the Rodolphe Merieux Laboratory, National Biomedical Research Institute (INRB) in Goma, on May 19, 2026. (AFP)

The deadly hantavirus and Ebola outbreaks show that while the response to declared public health crises has improved, awareness of pandemic risks still lags, a leading pandemic expert warned Tuesday.

Over six years after the World Health Organization declared the Covid-19 pandemic, global efforts to revamp public health crisis response have improved the reaction to the hantavirus and Ebola outbreaks, said Helen Clark, a former New Zealand prime minister and the co-chair of the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response.

"The new international health regulations are working," she told AFP in an interview in Geneva.

As soon as the alert was sounded last Friday over the new Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and once the world learned a few weeks ago of the rare hantavirus outbreak on the MV Hondius cruise ship in the Atlantic, "the response has gone quite well", she said.

"Our issue is now really upstream from that," she said, insisting that far more work needed to go into identifying risks and how "these outbreaks get away".

"I think we need a lot more knowledge around risk-informed preparedness," she said, urging more focus on knowing your risk and "what could crop up", and "be ready to deal with that".

"Those basic issues of surveillance, early detection... We're not there yet."

Clark said the hantavirus species behind the cruise ship outbreak that triggered a global health scare after three people died was known to be endemic in the area of Argentina where the ship departed from.

"But we're not clear how much was known about that by ships who depart regularly from there," she said.

Meanwhile, the outbreak of the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola believed to have killed more than 130 people in a remote province of DRC seems to have spread under the radar for weeks, with tests focused on another strain showing up negative.

"How could this have gone for four to six weeks, ... spreading while not getting the testing results that we needed to show that it was a particular variant?" Clark asked.

She called for thorough investigation of "the chain of events here, and what we can learn from it, and what it says about the capacities we need".

- 'Perfect storm' -

Clark highlighted that the Ebola outbreak especially had laid bare the dire impact dramatic global aid cuts had on disease prevention efforts.

"There's a perfect storm," she warned, pointing to how countries had been "very suddenly expected to make up a lot of investment in the health system which previously came from donors".

"With the best will in the world, the poorest and most fragile countries just haven't got money sitting in the bank to do that, so things will get neglected across a range of areas."

Clark insisted that "global solidarity remains extremely important".

"We're talking global public goods," she stressed, pointing to a confirmed Ebola case in a US national and how hantavirus had "popped up in places where people (disembarked) from the ship".

"We're in this together, and so we have to look to ways of financing preparedness or response which reflect our shared interests."

World

Tankers Exit Hormuz as Trump, Vance Talk Up Iran Deal Prospects

Vessels are seen anchored in the Strait of Hormuz, off the port city of Khasab on Oman's northern Musandam Peninsula on May 17, 2026. (AFP)
Vessels are seen anchored in the Strait of Hormuz, off the port city of Khasab on Oman's northern Musandam Peninsula on May 17, 2026. (AFP)
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Tankers Exit Hormuz as Trump, Vance Talk Up Iran Deal Prospects

Vessels are seen anchored in the Strait of Hormuz, off the port city of Khasab on Oman's northern Musandam Peninsula on May 17, 2026. (AFP)
Vessels are seen anchored in the Strait of Hormuz, off the port city of Khasab on Oman's northern Musandam Peninsula on May 17, 2026. (AFP)

Two Chinese tankers laden with oil exited the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, shipping data showed, brightening hopes that the US-Israeli conflict with Iran may soon be resolved after positive comments from the US president and his deputy.

President Donald Trump said on Tuesday the war would be over "very quickly" while Vice President JD Vance talked up progress in talks with Tehran about an agreement to end hostilities.

"We're in a pretty good spot here," Vance told a White House press briefing.

Trump made his comments a day after saying he had paused a planned resumption of hostilities following a new proposal by Tehran to end the conflict.

"I was an hour away from making the decision to go today," Trump told reporters at the White House on Tuesday.

Iran's leaders are begging for a deal, he said, adding that a new US attack would happen in coming days if no agreement was reached.

The United States has been struggling to end the ‌war it began with ‌Israel nearly three months ago. Trump has repeatedly said during the conflict that a deal ‌with ⁠Tehran was close, ⁠and similarly threatened heavy strikes on Iran if it did not reach an accord.

The US president is under intense political pressure at home to reach an accord that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz - a key route for global supplies of oil and other commodities. Gasoline prices remain high and Trump's approval rating has plummeted with congressional elections looming in November.

The conflict has caused the worst-ever disruption to global energy supplies, blocking hundreds of tankers from leaving the Gulf while damaging energy and shipping facilities across the region.

Two Chinese ships, among a handful of supertankers carrying Iraqi crude, exiting the Gulf this month, passed through the narrow strait carrying around 4 million barrels of crude, according to data from LSEG ⁠and Kpler.

Oil prices eased on the positive signals from the White House and in the Gulf, ‌with Brent crude falling to as low as $110.16 a barrel, before regaining much ‌of its losses.

"Investors are keen to gauge whether Washington and Tehran can actually find common ground and reach a peace agreement, with the US stance ‌shifting daily," said Toshitaka Tazawa, an analyst at Fujitomi Securities.

DIFFICULTIES IN NEGOTIATIONS

Speaking to reporters at a White House briefing, Vance acknowledged ‌difficulties in negotiating with a fractured Iranian leadership. "It's not sometimes totally clear what the negotiating position of the team is," he said, so the US is trying to make its own red lines clear.

He also said one objective of Trump's policy is to prevent a nuclear arms race from spreading in the region.

Ebrahim Azizi, head of the Iranian parliament's national security committee, said on X that Trump's pausing of an attack was due to ‌the realization that any move against Iran would mean "facing a decisive military response."

Iranian state media said Tehran's latest peace proposal involves ending hostilities on all fronts including Lebanon, the exit ⁠of US forces from areas ⁠close to Iran, and reparations for destruction caused by the US-Israeli attacks.

Tehran also sought the lifting of sanctions, release of frozen funds and an end to the US marine blockade, according to Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi as cited by IRNA news agency.

The terms as described in the Iranian reports appeared little changed from Iran's previous offer, which Trump rejected last week as "garbage."

CEASEFIRE MOSTLY HOLDING

The US-Israeli bombing killed thousands of people in Iran before it was suspended in a ceasefire in early April. Israel has killed thousands more and driven hundreds of thousands from their homes in Lebanon, which it invaded in pursuit of the Iran-backed Hezbollah.

Iranian strikes on Israel and neighboring Gulf states have killed dozens of people.

The Iran ceasefire has mostly held, although drones have lately been launched from Iraq towards Gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, apparently by Iran and its allies.

Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said they launched the war to curb Iran's support for regional armed proxies, dismantle its nuclear program, destroy its missile capabilities and create conditions for Iranians to topple their rulers.

But the war has yet to deprive Iran of its stockpile of near-weapons-grade enriched uranium or its ability to threaten neighbors with missiles, drones and proxies.

Iran’s clerical leadership, which had faced a mass uprising at the start of the year, withstood the superpower onslaught with no sign of organized opposition.