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(Moscow) Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday he wants to boost military cooperation with China, during a video meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, praising Moscow and Beijing’s resistance in the face of Western “pressure”.
“In the context of unprecedented pressure and provocations from the West, we are defending our principled positions,” Putin said.
According to him, “coordination between Moscow and Beijing in the international arena […] It serves to establish a just world order based on international law.”
He stressed that “military and technical cooperation that contributes to the security of our countries and maintaining stability in key regions has a special place” in Russian-Chinese cooperation.
Then the president stressed that the two powers “intend to strengthen cooperation between the armed forces of Russia and China.”
Confrontee à de laourdes sanctions occidentales à cause de son offensive contre l’Ukraine, the Russian cherche ces derniers mois à renforcer ses liens avec l’Asie, en particulier avec la Chine, which s’est guardee cepenendant de soutenir l’attaque russe contre neighbor.
PHOTO MIKHAIL KLIMENTYEV, Associated Press
Moscow and Beijing present themselves as a geopolitical counterweight to the United States and its allies.
Mr. Putin also announced on Friday that his counterpart would come “in the spring” of 2023 to Russia for a “state visit,” which would be the first since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
For his part, Xi Jinping praised the Russian-Chinese “comprehensive partnership and strategic cooperation” which “is emerging in this new era of maturity and resistance to pressure,” according to his words translated into Russian and published by the Kremlin.
“We are ready to strengthen strategic cooperation with Russia, to provide each other with opportunities for development, to be comprehensive partners for the benefit of the peoples of our countries and for the benefit of stability around the world,” he said.
Referring to this virtual meeting between Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin, China’s national television channel was enthused: “China is ready to work with Russia and all progressive forces around the world to oppose unilateralism, protectionism and intimidation.”
Moscow and Beijing present themselves as a geopolitical counterweight to the United States and its allies. They have held several joint military exercises in recent months, including a naval one this week in the East China Sea.
Russia is also trying to increase its gas supplies to the Chinese economy, the main consumer of hydrocarbons, especially since the Europeans are determined to wean themselves off their dependence on Russian energy.
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