BEIJING: The Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, has selected Moscow as his first foreign visit as president, to be followed immediately by a trip to South Africa for a summit of the group of leading emerging-market countries.

Mr Xi's predecessor, Hu Jintao, also chose Moscow as his first overseas stop after assuming office, but this time, Mr Xi's journey to Russia has a special significance, analysts say, coming as China tries to answer the Obama administration's pivot to Asia. That US policy is viewed with suspicion in Beijing and is broadly interpreted unfavourably by the Chinese government as containment of China.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping Credit:Reuters

By going to Russia, Mr Xi will be working to ensure that China's relationship with Moscow, a sometimes prickly affair and one in which the balance of power has dramatically tilted in favour of China, is in good shape before he meets with President Barack Obama later in the year, analysts said.

There have also been indications that Mr Xi and the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, would try to hammer out a long-sought energy deal that would provide China with Russian oil and gas.