BEIJING — Chinese leader Xi Jinping met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday in a sign of mutual support and common opposition to Western democracies amid Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
“We would like to express our greatest appreciation and admiration for the successes you have achieved over the years and, above all, over the last decade under your leadership,” Lavrov told Xi, according to Russian media.
“We are sincerely pleased with these successes, because they are successes of friends, although not everyone in the world shares this attitude and is trying by all means to slow down China’s development – in fact, just like development of Russia,” Lavrov said.
Russia’s growing economic and diplomatic isolation has made it increasingly dependent on China, its former rival for leadership of the communist bloc during the Cold War. In recent decades, the two countries have closely aligned their foreign policies, held joint military exercises and sought to rally non-aligned states into groupings such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
Lavrov held a press conference with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on Tuesday, during which they reaffirmed their solidarity in international affairs.
Lavrov said Russia and China oppose any international events that do not take Russia’s position into account.
He said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s “so-called peace formula” was “completely detached from any reality.”
Zelensky has called for the withdrawal of Russian forces and the return of all occupied Ukrainian territories, but he depends heavily on support from the United States, where the Republican Party majority in the House of Representatives is blocking a new military aid program.
China and Russia are each other’s most important diplomatic partners, both holding permanent seats on the United Nations Security Council and working together to block moves by the United States and its allies to spread democratic values and human rights from Venezuela to Syria.
Although China has not provided direct military support to Russia, it has supported it diplomatically by accusing the West of provoking Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to start war and by refraining from the qualify as an invasion out of deference to the Kremlin. China has also said it does not provide weapons or military assistance to Russia, even though it maintains strong economic ties with Moscow, alongside India and other countries. amid sanctions from Washington and its allies.
At their joint news conference, Wang reiterated China’s calls for a ceasefire and “an early end to the war.”
“China supports convening at an appropriate time an international meeting recognized by both Russia and Ukraine, in which all parties can participate on an equal footing and fairly discuss all peace solutions” , Wang said.
China’s peace proposal has found little success, in part because of the country’s continued support for Russia and lack of vision for what a future resolution would look like, particularly on the fate of the occupied Ukrainian territories and their inhabitants.
Wang also said Xi and Putin would continue close exchanges this year amid expectations of visits to each other’s capitals.
“China and Russia have experienced ups and downs, and both sides have learned from historical experience and found the right path to promote the healthy and stable development of bilateral relations,” Wang said. . – earned and worth cherishing and carefully tending to by both parties.
Lavrov arrived in China on Monday, while Wang and other Chinese figures recently visited Russia and maintained the Chinese line of broadly supporting Russia’s views on the cause of the conflict.
China has at times adopted a similarly combative tone against the United States and its allies. China and Russia have held joint military exercises and appear to be seeking to supplant democracies with dictatorships in areas where they exert influence. China is embroiled in its own territorial disputes, particularly over the self-governing island of Taiwan and in the South and East China Seas.
Just weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine, Putin visited Beijing for the opening of the 2022 Winter Olympics and the two sides signed a pact pledging a “no-nonsense” relationship. limits” in which China supports Russia’s line, while formally calling for peace talks.
In a phone call last week with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, U.S. President Joseph Biden emphasized the defense relationship between China and Russia, which seeks to rebuild its industrial base as it continues its invasion of Ukraine. And he called on Beijing to exert its influence over North Korea to rein in the isolated and erratic nuclear power.
ABC News
