The allies discussed developments of the ongoing war in Ukraine as well as relations between the two countries.
China and Russia are “friends forever, never enemies”, Chinese’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi has said in remarks in a visit to Moscow during which he has held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and his counterpart Sergey Lavrov.
Wang on Tuesday also welcomed signs of normalising ties between Washington and Moscow.
“The principle of ‘friends forever, never enemies’ … serves as a solid legal basis for advancing strategic cooperation at a higher level,” Wang told Russia’s RIA state news agency in an interview.
Wang is on a three-day visit to Moscow for strategic cooperation talks, a trip overshadowed by uncertainty around talks to secure a ceasefire in Ukraine and US President Donald Trump’s criticism of the Russian and Ukrainian leaders.
China and Russia declared a “no limits” strategic partnership days before Putin sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has met Putin more than 40 times over the past decade, and the two leaders have agreed to deepen ties and cooperate on issues such as Taiwan, Ukraine and their mutual rival the United States.
Wang said China is ready to play a “constructive role” in ending the conflict in Ukraine, but will back Russia to defend its “interests”.
At the start of talks with Lavrov, Wang added: “We will work together to make new contributions to the cause of peace and development for humanity.”
Putin later expressed to Wang his “satisfaction with the way our relationship is developing” while Wang talked up strengthening ties and said the two countries were pursuing their common global and regional interests.
Putin also said Russia was preparing a “good, full programme” for Xi’s symbolic and significant visit to Moscow for the Victory Parade in May – a sacrosanct day that marks the Soviet Union’s defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. It is the 80th anniversary this year.
Wang said current global conditions obliged big powers to act as stabilising factors, so it was encouraging that Russia and the US had moved to improve relations.
His remarks came a day after the Kremlin said that Russia and the US were working on ideas for a possible peace settlement in Ukraine and on building bilateral ties.
Since taking office in January, Trump has initially shifted the US to a more conciliatory stance towards Russia, but he expressed anger in recent days at Putin’s questioning of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s legitimacy and his discussion of the prospect of a new leadership in Ukraine.
Wang dismissed the notion that Trump is trying to support Russia in order to set it against China, condemning such ideas as a “relapse of obsolete confrontational and bloc thinking”.
Wang said recent Ukraine ceasefire talks had already brought some results and should continue, despite diverging views and the difficult situation on the battlefield.
“The step towards peace, although not that big, is constructive – it’s worth building on it,” Wang said. “With peace, it is no pain, no gain. You need to work hard to achieve it.”
Xi has been pushing for a greater involvement of China in peace talks since the early days of the war, which marked its third anniversary in February.
China presents itself as a neutral party in the conflict and says it is not sending lethal assistance to either side, unlike the US and other Western nations.
But it is a close political and economic ally of Russia, and NATO members have branded Beijing a “decisive enabler” of Moscow’s offensive – which it has never condemned.
Beijing has proposed on its own, and together with Brazil, general principles to end the conflict, but its ideas have received a tepid reception.
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