During his visit to Beijing, Russian Prime Minister Mishustin praised relations with China. Western pressure has strengthened them. China’s head of state Xi said they wanted to support each other in “core interests”.
China and Russia have reaffirmed their willingness to work closely together. China is still willing to “strongly” support each other in the respective “core interests” of the two states, said Chinese head of state and party leader Xi Jinping at a meeting with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin in Beijing. This was reported by the Chinese state news agency Xinhua – without further specifying what was meant by “core interests”.
According to Xi, both states should also strengthen cooperation in international forums such as the United Nations.
“China’s peace efforts are turning out to be political theatre”, comments Ruth Kirchner.
According to Mishustin, Western pressure on Russia has only deepened relations between Moscow and Beijing: “Today, relations between Russia and China are at an unprecedented high level,” he said demonstratively at a meeting with Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang. The relationship is characterized by mutual respect and the desire to react together to challenges related to “increased turbulence on the international stage and the pressure of illegal sanctions from the collective West”. “As our Chinese friends say, unity can move mountains.”
The Russian-Chinese relationship is characterized by “mutual respect for each other’s interests” and “the desire to respond to challenges together,” said Mishustin.
The EU is apparently targeting Chinese companies for military involvement with Russia.
Economic Cooperation:
Mishustin did not address the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, instead emphasizing the historical connections to the communist leadership in Beijing and economic cooperation. Russia’s role as a supplier of oil and gas to China should be emphasized, said the Russian head of government.
Trade with China has become all the more important for Russia since Western countries in particular imposed far-reaching sanctions after the Russian attack on Ukraine.
As the Russian news agency Tass reported, at the meeting with Li, Mishustin expressed confidence that the two states will cross the equivalent of $200 billion in mutual trade “ahead of schedule” this year.
China is Russia’s largest trading partner. According to Chinese information, the trade volume last year was 190 billion dollars (around 176 billion euros). The scale of mutual investments is “continuously expanding,” Li said. As a sign of close cooperation, 70 percent of mutual transactions are already being settled in the two national currencies and no longer in dollars, Mishustin stressed.
In addition to Russia and Ukraine, the special envoy is also to visit Germany, Poland and France.
Beijing backs Putin
Mishustin arrived in China yesterday for the two-day visit and first visited Shanghai. There, too, he underlined the importance of trade relations. Russia is ready to sell more agricultural products to China.
China seeks peace talks in conflict between Russia and Ukraine. However, Beijing backs Russian President Vladimir Putin overall, drawing the country a lot of international criticism. The Chinese state media, which is strictly controlled by the government, also regularly report pro-Russian.
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