BEIJING: Chinese President Xi Jinping held large-group talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is in China on a state visit, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Thursday.
During the meeting, Xi again extended a warm welcome to Putin for his state visit to China. He pointed out that this is President Putin’s first foreign visit after he began his new term as the president. This fully demonstrates the great importance President Putin himself and the Russian government attach to developing China-Russia relations. China highly appreciates this.
Xi said this year marks the 75th anniversary of the China-Russia diplomatic relations. It is an important milestone year in the history of China-Russia relations. Over the past 75 years, China and Russia together have found a new path for major countries and neighboring countries to treat each other with respect and pursue amity and mutually beneficial cooperation.
With the concerted efforts of the two sides, China-Russia relations have been moving forward steadily, with enhanced comprehensive strategic coordination and further cooperation on economy and trade, investment, energy, people-to-people exchanges, at the subnational level and in other fields. This has made positive contributions to maintaining global strategic stability and promoting greater democracy in international relations, Xi remarked.
Both China and Russia are permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and major emerging markets. It is the shared strategic choice of both countries to deepen strategic coordination, expand mutually beneficial cooperation and follow the general historical trend of multipolarity in the world and economic globalization.
According to TASS, Putin said at the meeting with Xi that “It is of fundamental importance that relations between Russia and China are not opportunistic and are not directed against anyone. Our cooperation in world affairs today serves as one of the main stabilizing factors in the international arena.”
According to the Xinhua News Agency, Xi and Putin on Thursday signed and issued a joint statement on deepening China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries. The two leaders also attended the signing ceremony of cooperation documents in Beijing on Thursday.
The eighth China-Russia Expo is set to take place from May 16 to 21 in Harbin, northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province, which borders Russia’s Far East region. Trade between the two countries will see new impetus after Putin’s China visit, said businesspeople from the two countries.
President Putin’s visit to China will no doubt inject more vitality into bilateral trade cooperation.
Xi and Putin jointly met the press in Beijing on Thursday. Xi said to the press that with Russia chairing BRICS this year and China taking over the chairmanship of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization later this year, the two sides will support each other’s chairmanship, build a high-quality partnership that is more comprehensive, close, practical and inclusive, and build the unity and strength of the Global South.
China and Russia are committed to fairness and justice as the purpose of relations, and dedicated to the political settlement of hotspots. Cold War mentality still exists, and unilateralism, hegemonism, bloc confrontation and power politics threaten world peace and the security of all countries. The two presidents are of the view that it is urgent to solve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. UN resolutions must be earnestly implemented and the question of Palestine must be solved on the basis of the two-State solution, Xi said.
The Chinese president said that the two sides believe that a political settlement is the right way forward for the Ukraine crisis. China’s position on this issue is consistent and clear, including observing the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries, respecting the legitimate security concerns of all parties, and building a new security architecture that is balanced, effective and sustainable. China hopes that peace and stability will return to the European continent at an early date, and stands ready to play a constructive role to this end.
