Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to China is still planned for the latter half of 2020, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
The spokesman noted that the year had just begun, "so it is too early to discuss any changes to the president’s plans."
"[Putin’s] visit [to China] was outlined for the latter half of the year, and this visit is on the agenda," Peskov said, answering a question on whether the coronavirus outbreak has affected the Russian leader’s plans to visit China this year, TASS reported.
Deputy Director of the Institute of Asian and African Studies of Moscow State University Andrey Karneev, speaking to Vestnik Kavkaza, noted that Putin didn't cancel his visit to China due for two reasons.
"First of all, some experts predict that the coronavirus outbreak may reach its peak in mid-February, after which the situation will gradually move towards normalization. Most experts say that sufficient quantities of the vaccine can be produced in three months at the latest or the virus will weaken," he said, explaining that the visit to China will be completely safe by the second half of the year.
"Based on the nature of the relations between our countries, the visits of top leaders should not be postponed. And this is the second meaning of the statement - the postponement of the president’s visit will be psychologically accepted as confirmation of some apocalyptic development of events," Andrei Karneev revealed the second reason.
