Putin due in China to meet 'dear friend' Xi

BEIJING, China — Russian President Vladimir Putin arrives in China on Tuesday to meet his "dear friend" Xi Jinping, bolstering their relationship at an infrastructure summit that will be overshadowed by the Israel-Hamas war.

China this week welcomes representatives of 130 countries for a Belt and Road Initiative forum that it hopes will help boost its international standing.

Putin is at the top of the invitation list, with the Russian leader on his first trip to a major global power since the Ukraine invasion threw his regime into international isolation.

He is on a mission to strengthen the already strong relationship with his communist neighbour, though Moscow is increasingly the junior partner.

Experts expect few big surprises during the Russian leader's visit to China, seeing the meeting as more a symbolic gesture of support for Moscow. 

"Russia is aware that China doesn't want to sign any high publicity deals," Alexander Gabuev, director of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, told AFP.

"China holds all of the cards," he said.

The Kremlin said the two leaders would meet on Wednesday "on the sidelines" of the BRI forum. 

And global headlines will be dominated by Israel's war with Palestinian militant organisation Hamas.

Israel declared war on the Islamist group after waves of Hamas fighters broke through the heavily fortified border with Gaza on October 7, shooting, stabbing, and burning to death more than 1,400 people, most of them civilians.

More than one million people have fled their homes in scenes of chaos and despair under heavy Israeli bombardment of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

Israel's bombing has killed around 2,750 people in Gaza, mainly civilians, according to Palestinian authorities, and flattened entire neighbourhoods. 

Western officials have criticised Beijing for not naming Hamas in statements on the Israel-Gaza conflict.

China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi spoke on Sunday with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who called on China to use its "influence" in the Middle East to push for calm.

China has a warm relationship with Iran, where the clerical leadership supports both Hamas and Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group that could open a