Chinese diplomat chief Wang Yi said in Jakarta on Thursday that China will strengthen ties in strategic communication and coordination with Russia, to which Beijing provides diplomatic and economic support.
• Also read: Blinking warns Beijing of hackers
• Also read: Ukraine: G7 pledges to ‘long-term’ military support
• Also read: “Ukraine has its place in NATO,” says Justin Trudeau
Chinese leaders see Russia as a useful partner in balancing Western influence on the international stage and want to remain neutral amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has prompted Moscow to impose economic sanctions on Western countries.
Wang Yi, the Chinese Communist Party’s chief foreign affairs official — a hierarchical rank higher than foreign minister — met with ASEAN’s chief of Russian diplomacy Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of a meeting of the Association of Nations of Southeast Asia in Jakarta, ahead of a meeting on Friday by foreign ministers from 18 countries, including those in Beijing and Moscow, as well as Washington.
AFP
“Both sides should (…) strengthen strategic communication and coordination,” Wang said in a statement from China’s foreign ministry.
They “strongly support each other in safeguarding their legitimate interests and stick to the path of harmonious coexistence and win-win development,” he added, according to the same source.
Wang Yi is representing China in Jakarta in place of Foreign Minister Qin Gang, who his ministry said resigned for “health reasons.”
For his part, Sergei Lavrov said that Moscow and Beijing maintain “high-level exchanges” and that a meeting between President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Russia in March “added strong momentum to bilateral relations,” according to the press release Chinese ministry.
AFP
“We have more and more areas in which interests and projects converge. I therefore look to the future with optimism,” Mr Lavrov said, according to a press release from the Russian Foreign Ministry.
The two sides “exchanged views on strengthening coordination and cooperation in multilateral frameworks such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), established in 2001, of which the two countries are founding members,” Mr Wang said again, according to the Chinese ministry.
The chief of Chinese diplomacy also pointed out that China and Russia will “guard themselves from outside interference” and will support ASEAN to “take the right direction of cooperation in East Asia and … maintain stability in the region.”
Last week, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for “securing regional peace” during a virtual SCO summit.
For his part, Mr Putin assured during this summit that Moscow “will continue to resist external pressures, sanctions and provocations”.