Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday hailed \u201cflourishing\u201d trade ties with China during a meeting with a top Chinese official in Moscow as the two countries bolster their partnership in the face of mounting frictions with the West. <\/p>\n
Speaking to Chinese Premier Li Qiang, Putin said Russia-China \u201clarge-scale joint plans and projects\u201d in economic and humanitarian areas would \u201ccontinue for many years,\u201d according to a Kremlin readout. <\/p>\n
Li, China\u2019s No. 2 official under leader Xi Jinping, had traveled to Moscow for a longstanding annual meeting with Russia\u2019s prime minister, which focused on economic and practical cooperation as the Kremlin continues to look to Beijing for economic partnership as its war with Ukraine grinds on. <\/p>\n
In his remarks to Putin, the Chinese premier hailed efforts by the Russian leader and Xi to \u201cinject strong momentum\u201d into \u201cdeepening bilateral relations and cooperation,\u201d according to Chinese state media. <\/p>\n
Li\u2019s four-day trip, which will include a stop in Russian ally Belarus, is the first visit to Russia by a high-level Chinese official since the Kremlin\u2019s war with Ukraine took on a new dimension following a surprise, ongoing military incursion by Ukrainian forces into the Russian border region of Kursk two weeks ago. <\/p>\n
Russia has been scrambling to repel that assault, which marks the first time foreign troops entered Russian territory since World War II and comes amid mounting pressure for a conclusion to the war in Ukraine, which began in 2022 with Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion of its neighbor. <\/p>\n
The Kremlin has become increasingly reliant on China\u2019s market, goods and investment since the start of the war, when it was slapped with broad international sanctions \u2013 and both Moscow and Beijing see the other as a key counterweight against a West they see as seeking to suppress their development. <\/p>\n
In his meeting Wednesday with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, Li said China was ready to work with Russia to strengthen \u201call-round practical cooperation\u201d and stressed that the countries\u2019 relations did not \u201ctarget any third party.\u201d <\/p>\n
The two nominal heads of government agreed to expand bilateral economic and trade cooperation and pledged to oppose any attempt to restrict their \u201ceconomic development, technological progress, and international development,\u201d according to Chinese state media. <\/p>\n
\u201cCertain countries\u201d obstruct the \u201ccollective rise of emerging markets and developing countries,\u201d the two officials said, using typical language to refer to their shared view on the United States and its allies. <\/p>\n
An official readout from the meeting released by China\u2019s Foreign Ministry did not mention the war in Ukraine. <\/p>\n
Speaking to Li, Mishustin said Russia and China were \u201cin a difficult external situation\u201d as Western countries impose \u201cillegitimate sanctions under far-fetched pretexts\u201d and seek to \u201ccontain the economic and technological potential of Russia and China.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cThat is why it is important to concentrate efforts on protecting our common interests, building a multipolar world order and strengthening coordination on international platforms,\u201d he said, according to Russian state media. <\/p>\n
Beijing has faced mounting scrutiny and pressure from the West to curtail the export of dual-use goods such as aerospace, manufacturing and technology equipment to Russia, which Western leaders and Kyiv have alleged are propping up the Russian war effort. <\/p>\n
Chinese officials have sought to present the country as a neutral, aspiring peace broker in the war, but have had limited high-level contact with Kyiv while continuing to deepen relations with Moscow across trade, diplomacy and security. <\/p>\n
China last month hosted a top Ukrainian official for the first time since Russia\u2019s invasion of the country nearly two and half years ago. <\/p>\n
Last week, in response to a media inquiry on the situation in Kursk, a spokesperson for China\u2019s Foreign Ministry called on \u201call parties\u201d not to expand the battlefield, escalate fighting and \u201cfuel the flame,\u201d saying China would continue to work for a \u201cpolitical settlement of the crisis.\u201d <\/p>\n
Wednesday\u2019s meeting between Li and Mishustin is part of annual talks held since 1996, typically focused on economic, cultural and humanitarian cooperation and seen as a means to implement broader policy direction set by Xi and Putin. <\/p>\n
Following Wednesday\u2019s talks, the two sides signed a host of cooperation documents in areas including science and technology, chemical industry, maritime search and rescue, and cross-border cargo transport, according to Chinese state media. <\/p>\n
Trade between China and Russia hit record highs last year, surpassing a target of $240 billion ahead of schedule. Russia has grown hugely reliant on China\u2019s market, goods and investment since it was slapped with broad international sanctions following its Ukraine invasion. <\/p>\n
Bilateral trade increased by more than a quarter year-on-year in 2023 from 2022, but has only grown about 1.6% between January and July this year over the same period last year, according to China\u2019s customs data. <\/p>\n
Li is expected to end his four-day trip in Belarus, where he will meet Belarusian Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko for an \u201cin-depth exchange of views on bilateral relations and cooperation in various fields,\u201d China\u2019s Foreign Ministry said Monday. <\/p>\n
This story has been updated with additional information.<\/em> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday hailed \u201cflourishing\u201d trade ties with China during a meeting with a top Chinese official in Moscow as the two countries bolster their partnership in the face of mounting frictions with the West. Speaking to Chinese Premier Li Qiang, Putin said Russia-China \u201clarge-scale joint plans and projects\u201d in economic and <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6718,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-6717","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6717"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6717\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}