The Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, has selected Moscow as his first foreign visit as President, to be followed immediately by a trip to South Africa for a summit of the group of leading emerging-market countries.
Mr Xi's journey to Russia has a special significance, analysts say, coming as China tries to answer the Obama administration's pivot to Asia. That US policy is viewed with suspicion in Beijing and is broadly interpreted unfavourably by the Chinese government as containment of China.
By going to Russia, Mr Xi will be working to ensure China's relationship with Moscow, a sometimes prickly affair and one in which the balance of power has dramatically tilted in favour of China, is in good shape before he meets President Barack Obama later in the year, analysts said.
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