...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances...
, along with a representative of the Taliban
...the once and current oppressors of Afghanistan...Putin, whom President Xi Jinping refers to as his "dear friend," last visited China for the Beijing Winter Olympics in February 2022, declaring a "no limits friendship" days before Russia invaded Ukraine.
Trade has burgeoned between the two countries since — Russia exports about 2 million barrels of oil per day to China — and Xi and Putin are expected to discuss trade, including Moscow’s aim to build a second natural gas pipeline to China.
They are also expected to further cement their shared enmity toward the liberal West.
The only senior European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
representative in Beijing is Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, given broad western European skepticism of China’s ambitions and a reluctance to share a platform with Putin, who is wanted for alleged war crimes.
The conference marks the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative, a vision spelled out by Xi in 2013 on visits to Kazakhstan and Indonesia. Today it has 152 members and has been the driving force behind power plants and railways, as well as causing controversy over so-called "debt diplomacy."
Non-attendees
Regional non-attendees include Malaysia Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, though his country sent a delegation led by Transport Minister Loke Siew Fook.
A notably absent country is India, which has never attended a forum.
"Even before the ... emergence of the Indo-Pacific construct, India staunchly opposed the BRI and, along with Japan, sought to present an alternative to the initiative," Sana Hashmi, fellow at Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation, told Radio Free Asia, a news service affiliated with BenarNews.
"While some countries initially attended the [earlier] BRI forum[s] and later decided to distance themselves from it, India consistently recognized the potential detrimental impact of the BRI on its national interests and the regional landscape.
"India’s concerns about the BRI — expanding China’s sphere of influence, increasing regional dependency on China, trapping countries in debt and violating countries’ illusory sovereignty — have been shared by several major powers and like-minded countries over the course of a decade," Hashmi said.
Ilshat Hassan Kokbore, vice president of the Executive Committee at the World Uyghur Congress, said "First, China wants to expand its influence in Afghanistan and neutralize any potential threat to its illusory sovereignty. Second, China wants to develop close relations with the Taliban and turn them against the U.S.
"Third," he said, "China wants to use Afghanistan to further cement its relations with other countries on the One Belt, One Road [the initial name of the BRI], such as Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for
spontaneouslytaking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet
militiasto extend the regime's influence. The word
Iranis a cognate form of
Aryan.The abbreviation
IRGCis the same idea as
Stürmabteilung (or SA).The term
Supreme Guideis a the modern version form of either
Duceor
Führeror maybe both. They hate
and Middle Eastern countries."
Christoph Nedopil Wang, the director of the Griffith Asia Institute, told The Guardian that inviting Putin was essentially a snub to western governments, highlighting "the alignment of Chinese and Russian political priorities."
Related:
Belt and Road Forum: 2023-09-29 10 years on, China’s Belt and Road goals shift with Beijing’s ambitions
Belt and Road Forum: 2023-07-26 Ukrainian Perspective: Invasion of Ukraine: July 25th, 2023
Belt and Road Forum: 2020-12-16 The Strategic Competition We've Neglected: Confronting China in Mexico
Belt and Road Forum: 2023-09-29 10 years on, China’s Belt and Road goals shift with Beijing’s ambitions
Belt and Road Forum: 2023-07-26 Ukrainian Perspective: Invasion of Ukraine: July 25th, 2023
Belt and Road Forum: 2020-12-16 The Strategic Competition We've Neglected: Confronting China in Mexico