Xi to host 'old friend' Putin as China projects stable global role after Trump visit

Chinese leader Xi Jinping is set to host his "old friend" Vladimir Putin less than a week after Donald Trump's high-profile visit, as Beijing seeks to project itself as a stable and predictable power in a world shaken by trade tensions, wars and an energy crisis. China and Russia have cast Putin's two-day trip this week — his 25th visit to China — as further evidence of their "all-weather" partnership, even as the West urges Beijing to pressure Moscow into ending its war in Ukraine.