Beijing
\nRussian President Vladimir Putin said relations between his country and China are \u201creaching new milestones\u201d as Beijing\u2019s top diplomat, Wang Yi, wrapped up a visit to Moscow on Wednesday.
\n\u201cRussian-Chinese relations are developing as we planned in previous years. Everything is moving forward and developing,\u201d Putin told reporters as he sat beside Wang. \u201cCooperation in the international arena between the Russian Federation and the People\u2019s Republic of China, as we have repeatedly said, is very important for stabilizing the international situation.\u201d
\nWang added that the two countries \u201coften face crisis and chaos, but there are always opportunities in a crisis.\u201d
\n\u201cThis requires us to identify changes more voluntarily and respond to the changes more actively to further strengthen our comprehensive strategic partnership,\u201d Wang said.
\nWang\u2019s high-profile visit, just days before the anniversary of the Kremlin\u2019s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, is widely believed to be a precursor to a meeting between Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping. In December 2022, Putin and Xi held a virtual meeting in which the Russian leader described relations between the two nations as \u201cthe best in history,\u201d saying they could \u201cwithstand all tests,\u201d and invited Xi to visit Moscow in the spring of 2023.
\nOn Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported the two leaders would meet in \u201cthe coming months,\u201d citing people familiar with the plan. Arrangements for the trip are at an \u201cearly stage\u201d and the timing has not been finalized, the WSJ reported, adding that the trip could be in April or early May.
\nWang arrived in Moscow just days after US officials went public with concerns about how China\u2019s continuing partnership with Russia could have an impact on the war in Ukraine \u2014 and hours after Putin made a major speech on the conflict, in which he announced plans to suspend Russia\u2019s involvement in its last remaining nuclear arms treaty with the US.
\nThe Chinese diplomat held several high-profile meetings in the Russian capital during his visit, speaking with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov earlier Wednesday and Nikolai Patrushev, the head of Russia\u2019s Security Council and one of Putin\u2019s closest allies, on Tuesday.
\nWang told Lavrov he expects the two countries to reach a \u201cnew consensus\u201d on advancing bilateral relations.
\n\u201cToday I am willing to further exchange views with you, my old friend, on the advancement of our mutual relationship, and I think we will definitely reach new consensus,\u201d Wang told Lavrov on Wednesday.
\n\u201cNo matter how the international situation changes, China has been and remains willing to maintain the positive trend with Russia in building a new type of cooperative relationship between major powers.\u201d
\nWang, who was congratulated by Lavrov for his recent promotion as the top foreign policy adviser for Chinese leader Xi Jinping, said he would endeavor to \u201cstrengthen and deepen the Sino-Russian friendship\u201d no matter what.
\nWang said under the leadership of Xi and Putin, the two countries had maintained their strategic determination, and \u2013 in an apparent dig at the United States \u2013 \u201cresolutely oppose any unilateral or bullying behavior, and unswervingly safeguard their respective sovereignty, security and development interests.\u201d
\nOn Tuesday, Wang told Patrushev that Beijing\u2019s ties with Moscow are \u201csolid as a rock.\u201d
\n\u201cSino-Russian relations are mature and solid as a rock, and will withstand the test of the changing international situation,\u201d Wang was quoted as saying by Russian state-owned news agency Sputnik.
\n\u201cWe are ready, together with the Russian side, in accordance with top-level agreements, to resolutely defend national interests and dignity, and promote mutually beneficial cooperation in all areas,\u201d Wang said.
\nPatrushev told Wang that China and Russia should stick together in face of growing pressure from the West, citing what he falsely described as \u201cthe bloody events unleashed by the West in Ukraine\u201d as an example.
\nRussia has repeatedly accused the West of instigating the war in Ukraine, while attempting to deny responsibility for the reported deaths of tens of thousands of people \u2014 and Beijing has parroted the messaging, laying the blame for Moscow\u2019s unprovoked invasion on the United States and its NATO allies.
\n\u201cIn the context of the campaign by the collective West to contain Russia and China, the further deepening of Russian-Chinese coordination and interaction in the international arena carries particular importance,\u201d Patrushev was quoted as saying by Sputnik.
\nPatrushev also said that Russia and China should seek to create a new, \u201cmore just\u201d world order, one that challenges the unipolar hegemony of the collective West, according to Sputnik.
\nA readout from China\u2019s Foreign Ministry said the two officials agreed to oppose \u201cthe Cold War mentality, bloc confrontation and ideological opposition\u201d \u2014 a thinly veiled criticism of the US \u2014 and to make more efforts to \u201cimprove global governance,\u201d in an apparent reference to Beijing and Moscow\u2019s ambitions to reshape the global order in their favor.
\nWang and Patrushev also \u201cexchanged their opinions\u201d on the issue of Ukraine, the statement added, without offering details.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Beijing Russian President Vladimir Putin said relations between his country and China are \u201creaching new milestones\u201d as Beijing\u2019s top diplomat, Wang Yi, wrapped up a visit to Moscow on Wednesday. \u201cRussian-Chinese relations are developing as we planned in previous years. Everything is moving forward and developing,\u201d Putin told reporters as he sat beside Wang. \u201cCooperation […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":315458,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-315434","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n