Sofia Barruti
(CNN) – China and Russia capped a successful year of cooperation with an annual year-end meeting where both vowed to deepen ties on a range of issues as record trade between them surpassed a symbolic target.
Bilateral trade between China and Russia exceeded $200 billion in the first 11 months of the year, Chinese leader Xi Jinping said on Wednesday at a meeting with Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, marking the earlier-than-expected achievement of a set goal by his Russian counterpart counterpart Vladimir Putin in 2019.
The two leaders then promised to reach the $200 billion mark by 2024. Trade between their countries continued to increase after the Kremlin's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, growing by about 30% to a record $190 billion in 2022.
The latest trade figures showed “strong resilience and broad prospects” for cooperation, Xi said on Wednesday.
The two sides should “make full use of the benefits of mutual political trust” and “deepen cooperation in economic, trade, energy and connectivity,” the president said during the meeting, according to China's state news agency Xinhua.
China, the world's second-largest economy, emerged as a key economic lifeline for Russia after the United States and its allies halted trade and imposed sanctions following Moscow's invasion of their neighbor. This sparked criticism that Beijing supports Russia's war effort despite its claims of neutrality in the conflict and calls for peace.
Chinese leaders see Moscow as an important counterweight against a hostile West and have criticized Western sanctions. They did not support United Nations efforts to censure Russia while the country has increased energy purchases from its northern neighbor and emerged as a major supplier of consumer goods to its isolated market.
Chinese customs data released earlier this month showed that trade between China and Russia reached a record nearly $218.2 billion in the first 11 months of 2023. However, this figure represents just 4% of China's $5.41 trillion in global trade over the same period.
During Mishustin's two-day visit, which included an annual high-level end-of-year meeting co-chaired by Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Tuesday, the two countries strengthened cooperation on a range of issues.
According to a statement from China's Foreign Ministry, the agreements signed include strengthening trade, transportation, e-commerce and customs procedures, as well as improving cooperation in the development of Arctic sea routes, aircraft manufacturing, space exploration and satellite navigation.
Separately, the Chinese and Russian militaries held regular consultations on Wednesday and agreed to “improve the level of strategic coordination” between them and “make new contributions to promoting peace and security in the region and the world.” said the Ministry of Defense from China.
CNN's Laura He and Mengchen Zhang contributed reporting.
The CNN Wire
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