China’s FM in Moscow: Bilateral Relations, Ties with West on Top

By Staff, Agencies 

China’s foreign minister Wang Yi has held talks with his Russian counterpart in Moscow as the two countries inch closer amid fraying ties with the West over the Ukraine war and the militarization of the Pacific.

Wang opened his talks with Sergey Lavrov by hailing “strategic cooperation” between the two countries and their shared commitment to a “multipolar world” and a “more just world order”.

“China and Russia, as leading global powers and permanent members of the UN Security Council, bear special responsibility for maintaining global strategic stability and global development,” he added.

The Moscow trip comes days after Wang held talks with United States President Joe Biden’s National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan in Malta. Sino-US ties have deteriorated in recent years over issues ranging from trade to the Chinese military threat to Taiwan.

China’s top diplomat, who will be in Russia until Thursday, plans to hold strategic security consultations with officials there, the Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement.

Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, emphasized “the importance of Russian-Chinese cooperation for ensuring justice in world affairs, for ensuring a balance of interests in the processes that are developing in a variety of directions”.

He further noted that Russia and China will coordinate their efforts during this week’s United Nations General Assembly and other international forums.

Meanwhile, Wang stressed that Russia-China cooperation “isn’t directed against anyone and isn’t influenced by any other countries”.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin have promised to strengthen bilateral ties as Beijing has faced criticism from the West for not condemning Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

China has refrained from taking sides in the conflict, saying that while a country’s territory must be respected, the West needs to consider Russia’s security concerns about NATO expansion.