China and Russia will further deepen their ties and cooperation with each other at the international arena. The two presidents Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin agreed on this during the Russian leader's visit to Beijing. The role of one of the main unifying elements in friendship will continue to be the confrontation with the West and especially with the USA.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping agreed in Beijing to strengthen their “strategic partnership”, sharply criticizing the United States for a number of moves by Washington, which the two heads of state say are a threat to their countries, Reuters notes.
The 7,000-word joint statement after their meeting said the “deepening of the Comprehensive and Strategic Partnership is entering a new era,” with the leaders setting out their positions on all major issues, from economic to space and defense cooperation to Ukraine and Taiwan.
„The two countries once again express their great concern over American attempts to disrupt the strategic balance of power in the region” of Northeast Asia, said the Russian version of the final communique after the meeting.
In the joint statement published by the Kremlin, Russia and China add that they want to avoid a new escalation of the war in Ukraine, indirectly placing the blame for a possible similar development on the West, notes France Presse.
The text says that Beijing and Moscow consider it necessary, in particular, to avoid any decision that could “contribute to the prolongation of hostilities and a new escalation of the conflict” – wording seems aimed at the Europeans and the Americans, as the Kremlin constantly reiterates that it is Western arms supplies to Ukraine that are prolonging the war.
The joint communiqué, which uses language acceptable to Putin, states that “a permanent settlement of the Ukrainian crisis” requires compliance with the “principle of indivisibility of security“ – a concept used by Moscow to justify its invasion. The Kremlin claims that the rapprochement between Kiev and the West poses a threat to Moscow and that Ukraine's security cannot be achieved at the expense of Russia's, France Press points out.
Beijing and Moscow emphasize the importance of dialogue for the settlement of the conflict. Russia's position is that it is ready for negotiations only if Ukraine cedes the five regions that Moscow claims and occupies.
CHINA CANNOT GET EVERYTHING IT WANT
The US immediately reacted to the messages from the Russian-Chinese summit in Beijing. Washington's criticism was directed mostly against China, which, according to American officials, cannot be on equally good terms with both the West and Russia.
„There is no way the wolf can be full and the lamb whole”, the spokesperson of the US State Department, Vedant Patel, commented to reporters.
China “cannot have both – good relations with European and other countries and at the same time fuel the biggest threat to European security in a long time,”, the spokesman added, referring to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The US has accused China that, while not directly sending arms to Ukraine, Beijing has aided the biggest expansion of Russia's military industry since the Soviet Union, a concern that Secretary of State Anthony Blinken raised when he visited China last month, notes France Press.
Xi and Putin identified relations between their countries as a stabilizing factor at their meeting in Beijing, where the Russian president aimed to gain greater Chinese support for his military actions in Ukraine.
Beijing's aid to Russia's defense industry “endangers not only Ukrainian security, but European security,”, Patel said.
In a speech broadcast on Russian television, Xi said that China “looks forward to peace and stability once again reigning on the European continent”.
Asked to comment on China's stated support for a peace process in Ukraine, Patel replied: “In our opinion, the solution is easy – Russia can simply leave Ukraine”.
VISIT AGAINST NEW INGREDIENT OF FIGHTING IN UKRAINE
Putin's two-day visit took place at a time when fighting on the front in Ukraine is witnessing a new intensification. Russia has launched a massive offensive in northeastern Ukraine, in the region of Kharkiv Oblast, prompting some to note that the war has entered one of the most decisive stages since it began.
In this regard, the highly “laden with symbolism” meet you – Putin has made the Russian-Chinese partnership stand out brightly in the current environment of challenges in relations with the US and Europe, notes the Associated Press.
„The two countries want to show that despite everything that is happening globally, and that despite the pressure they are under from the US, they do not intend to turn their backs on each other,” Hu Tianbun said. an expert on Chinese foreign policy at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University.
This year marks the 75th anniversary of the establishment of formal relations between the People's Republic of China and Russia, and the signs and messages that came from the summit between the two countries in Beijing were yet another confirmation of the declaration of “boundless“ partnership they signed in 2022, just before Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Associated Press notes.