Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin affirmed Russia's support for China's position on Taiwan at a meeting in Moscow on Tuesday with Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping. "We have always supported China on the most sensitive issues, including the Taiwan problem," Putin told Xi at the start of talks. China considers Taiwan, where the mainland's nationalists fled in 1949 after losing the civil war, to be a territory awaiting reunification, by force if necessary.
Russia and most of the world also view Taiwan as an integral part of China, but Taiwan trades with and receives support from numerous countries, notably the United States. In January, Washington angered Beijing by approving a 6.4-billion-dollar arms sale to Taiwan. Xi in turn praised Russia-Chinese relations as being "at an unprecedentedly high level." "It is very important to maintain the good state of Russian-Chinese ties in the future," he said.
Xi, who met Putin for the first time Tuesday, is widely seen as the most likely candidate to take over the Chinese presidency in 2012-13. Many analysts in Russia, meanwhile, speculate Putin may return to the Kremlin as president in 2012. Putin last visited China in October 2009, when he held talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao.