President Vladimir Putin hailed deepening ties with Beijing at talks with China’s top diplomat Wang Yi
The President of Russia – Vladimir Putin today, i.e., Wednesday, February 22, 2023, said relations between his country and China are reaching new milestones as Beijing’s top diplomat – Wang Yi, wrapped up a visit to Moscow.
This comes 2 days after the President of the United States (U.S.) – Joe Biden made a surprise visit to Kyiv and announced a half-billion dollars in new assistance, saying the package would include more military equipment, such as artillery ammunition, more javelins and Howitzers. Subsequent to that, Putin announced suspending his country’s participation in the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) with the U.S. The treaty puts limits on the number of deployed intercontinental-range nuclear weapons that both the U.S. and Russia can have
Addressing the media, Putin said, “Russian-Chinese relations are developing as we planned in previous years. Everything is moving forward and developing.”
He further said, “Cooperation in the international arena between the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China, as we have repeatedly said, is very important for stabilizing the international situation.”
Wang’s high-profile visit to Russia is believed to be a precursor to a meeting between Putin and President of China – Xi Jinping. In December 2022, Putin and Xi held a virtual meeting where Putin described relations between the two nations as “the best in history” and said that they could “withstand all tests”. He also invited Xi to visit Moscow in the spring of 2023.
Meanwhile, the U.S. has warned China from providing weapons to Russia for its ongoing war with Ukraine.
Wang held several high-profile meetings during his visit. He also met the Foreign Minister of Russia – Sergey Lavrov and told him that he expects China and Russia to reach a new consensus on advancing bilateral relations.
Wang said, “Today 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.”
He added, “No 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.”
Wang said that under the leadership of Xi and Putin, the two countries had maintained their strategic determination.
Hinting at the U.S., Wang said, “Sino-Russian relations are mature and solid as a rock and will withstand the test of the changing international situation.”
Russia has repeatedly accused the West of instigating the war in Ukraine. China has always claimed impartiality in the conflict but has refused to condemn Russia’s invasion. Besides, it has expanded trade ties with Russia when the West was imposing sanctions on Russia. During the recently held Munich Security Conference (MSC) in Germany, Wang said China is a proponent of peace and negotiation.
