Will the upcoming Putin-Xi summit produce a new joint statement criticizing the U.S.?
59% of users predicted NO — the community missed this one. 34 predictions cast.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a joint declaration at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on May 20, 2026, explicitly warning against what they called unilateral management of global affairs and condemning attempts to impose a single nation's will on others "in the spirit of the colonial era." The document took aim at the United States' proposed $175 billion Golden Dome missile defense system and criticized the lapse of the last remaining U.S.-Russia nuclear arms control treaty, which expired after the Trump administration did not respond to Moscow's proposal to extend it.
The declaration was among roughly 20 agreements signed during the summit, which came less than a week after President Trump's own visit to Beijing for a meeting with Xi. Putin's arrival framed the session as a direct counterweight to U.S. diplomatic overtures, with both leaders emphasizing a shared vision of a multipolar world order.
The joint statement went further than many analysts anticipated in explicitly naming U.S. defense programs and arms control failures as areas of concern. The Predict Six community predicted NO at 59%, underestimating Beijing's willingness to endorse sharply critical anti-U.S. language so soon after hosting Trump.