Xi departs Moscow with liquefied gas, Taiwan commitments

March 22 (UPI) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping left Moscow on Wednesday after securing new energy assurances and Russian President Vladimir Putin's acknowledgement that Taiwan is part of China.

Xi departed Vnukovo-2 Airport Wednesday morning, concluding a three-day visit watched closely by the United States and western Europe for signs of Beijing's support of Moscow as Russia continued its invasion of Ukraine.

Before his departure, Putin agreed to deliver some 98 billion cubic meters of liquefied gas per year to China by 2030 in an effort to make up for European energy sanctions against the Kremlin.

That total is six times higher than China received in 2022 but did not completely close the gap left by sanctions.

Putin also declared that it viewed Taiwan as part of China. Those comments sought to boost Beijing in a potential move to strengthen its control of Taiwan, which has been strongly discouraged by the United States. U.S. President Joe Biden has gone as far as to suggest that the United States would intervene militarily of China became aggressive with the island province.

Xi and Putin released a joint statement Tuesday in support of some provisions of China's so-called peace plan in Russia's Ukraine invasion, calling for peace talks to start between the two countries.

The statement condemned NATO expansion, which they said was the cause for the war, and did not call for a Russian withdrawal from Ukrainian territory. Xi also invited Putin to visit China in the near future.