Without naming US President Donald Trump – who has an “America First” agenda and has withdrawn the United States from global treaties such as the Paris climate agreement – Xi said China was looking to build “beneficial cooperation on the basis of equality and mutual respect”.

In addition, he said China was willing to share its 5G technology with partners to create more opportunities for developing countries.

“[China] will insist on opening up and relax restrictions on market entry and build a fair market environment … [we] are willing to – on the basis of equality and mutual respect – cooperate [with our partners] and achieve a win-win outcome,” the Chinese leader said.

“[We] want to create more opportunities for developing countries and share the fruits of our research and development, including our 5G technology.”

Asked about Beijing’s position on international trade, Xi acknowledged that globalisation had its downsides but said they did not justify unilateralism.

Russia keen to sell yuan bonds to deepen ties with China

“Of course, globalisation is also a double-edged sword. Some will benefit from moving the cheese and others will suffer. The question of [wealth] distribution … must be addressed by pressing ahead with globalisation,” Xi said.

Xi’s speech capped a three-day visit to Russia that included two summit meetings with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin. On Wednesday, the two neighbouring nations issued a joint statement saying their bilateral relations had entered a new era.

It was Xi’s first appearance at the annual economic forum in St Petersburg, where boosting trade and investment ties, especially with China, was high on the agenda for Moscow amid an uncertain business climate and sanctions from the West since Russia annexed Crimea in 2014.

In his opening speech, Putin slammed Washington over its recent trade restrictions on Chinese tech firm Huawei and called for the role of the US dollar in global trade to be revisited, saying it had become a weapon to “bully” other countries with.

“In some circles, this is even being called the first technological war of the dawning digital era,” the Russian president said.

“China’s Huawei now faces severe suppression by certain countries which have been trying to squeeze it out from the market,” Putin said. “And in education … some universities are refusing to accept foreign students and rejecting them to take certain education programmes.”

China and Russia to close ranks in united front against American pressure

He also called for the lifting of sanctions on Russia’s energy industry, a key pillar of the country’s economy, “because energy is relevant to the lives of millions of people”.

Putin also emphasised his close relationship with Xi.

He said that the two leaders were good friends and that their talks had continued until midnight. “We hated to leave as there are so many issues to discuss,” Putin said.

Steve Tsang, director of the SOAS China Institute at the University of London, said the early stages of “decoupling” between the US and China had pushed Xi to strengthen relations with Russia.

But Tsang said that while Xi was seeking to reduce the country’s dependence on the West, the shift towards Russia would not drive a wedge between China and Europe.

“There is no real evidence that European countries or the EU are seeking to ‘isolate’ or ‘contain’ China,” he said.

“Europeans and the EU are relatively relaxed about the Xi-Putin meeting, as there is so far no indication that Xi’s China will proactively support Russia in the adventures Putin has been pursuing in Europe,” he added.

Jyrki Kallio, senior research fellow at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, said that despite the apparent warming between China and Russia, the two sides still harboured distrust from long-term historic conflicts, from border tensions to geostrategic rivalry for influence across the Asian continent.

“The two countries can find some common interests in voicing their dissatisfaction with the ‘Western dominated’ international order, including vetoes in the United Nations against any acts of interference in other countries’ internal affairs,” he said.

“But in the long term, the two countries are strategic rivals.”

Additional reporting by Keegan Elmer