BEIJING: In a phone chat on Monday, the foreign ministries of China and Russia praised the “practical cooperation” between the two major powers, according to Beijing.
China and Russia hail cooperation: According to a statement from the Chinese foreign ministry, China’s top diplomat Wang Yi urged his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov that Beijing and Moscow “should continue to maintain close strategic coordination, promote world multipolarization, and the democratisation of international relations.”
During a conversation that also covered the current hostilities in Ukraine, the recently reappointed foreign minister commended recent developments in “practical cooperation” between the two nations, Beijing claimed.
Wang added that China would continue to “hold an independent and fair stance” in the Ukraine situation following Moscow’s incursion last year and urged all sides to start peace negotiations.
The most crucial current objective for both Beijing and Moscow, he stated, is to carry out the significant consensus reached by their respective heads of state and advance the high-level development of the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership in the new era.
In response to Qin Gang’s prolonged and mysterious disappearance in late July, China’s ruling Communist Party reappointed Wang, an experienced diplomat and senior member, as the foreign minister.
In recent years, as both nations’ relations with the West have deteriorated, Beijing and Moscow have maintained an ever-closer bilateral connection.
The Western bloc’s aggressive approach towards China and Russia was rejected, according to a statement released on Monday by Russia’s foreign ministry.
The statement stated that the contact “confirmed the unity or broad harmony of Moscow and Beijing’s approaches to world affairs.”
China has made an effort to portray itself as a party to the war that is neutral while still keeping tight connections to Russia, a key partner.
Beijing has offered Putin political and financial backing ever since Russian tanks crossed the border into Ukraine, but has refrained from taking overt military operations or supplying lethal weapons.