As the war in Ukraine approaches a year, with the United States holding hands in Kiev and China besieging Taiwan with giant fleets of warplanes, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping met this Friday, via video conference, to clearly leave yours It’s ‘the best relationship ever’. The message went straight to Washington.
The New York Times defined the meeting as one between two powerful men in a moment of weakness. China is facing a wave of out-of-control covid and is in no position to risk sanctions (should it invade Taiwan). The newspaper also stressed Russia’s urgent need for Chinese assistance to get out of the Ukrainian swamp, where he is buried in solitude.
“Our relationships withstand all tests with dignity, demonstrate maturity and stability and continue to expand dynamicallythe Kremlin chief told Xi.
According to Putin, relations between Moscow and Beijing are “the best in history and a model of great-power cooperation in the 21st century”.
“With you we see in the same way the causes, the trend and the logic of the transformations of the global geopolitical landscape”, he added.
The “technical-military” relationship.
Putin stressed that a “special” place in relations is occupied by military-technical cooperation between the two countries.
According to him, this cooperation “helps to guarantee the security of our countries and to maintain stability in key regions”.
“We aim to strengthen cooperation between the armed forces of Russia and China,” Putin said.
The president also announced that he would “strengthen cooperation between the Russian and Chinese militaries”.
Moscow needs Chinese weapons to carry out its plans to ravage Ukraine, a country it invaded in February and was expected to conquer entirely in two weeks.
“In a context of unprecedented pressure and provocation from the West, we defend our positions of principle”, Putin said, announcing his intention to “strengthen cooperation between the armed forces of Russia and China”.
Putin refers to the military assistance the United States is providing to Kiev, and also alludes to warnings from Washington that it will not tolerate a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, which has angered the communist regime.
A summit in 2023
The head of the Kremlin was convinced that next year both leaders You can hold a face-to-face meeting.
“Dear Mr. President, dear friend, we are waiting for you in Moscow with a state visit next spring,” he said.
He stressed that this visit will demonstrate to the world the strength of Russian-Chinese relations and will “the main event of the year in bilateral relations.
As for economic relations, he stated that despite the foreign situation “illegitimate restrictions and direct blackmail by some Western countries, Russia and China have managed to guarantee record exchange rates“.
The Russian president stressed that this year trade between the two countries will increase “by about 25
“With this momentum, our goal of reaching $200,000 million (in trade) by 2024 can be achieved ahead of time,” he said.
Xi, for his part, said, according to the translation offered by Russian television, that Beijing was willing to increase strategic interaction with Russia offering the parts “development possibilities”.
According to the Chinese leader, being “global partners benefits the people” of both countries.
He also stressed that he had two face-to-face meetings with Putin this year, with whom he also spoke on the phone “on several occasions”.
“We maintain close strategic contacts,” he told the Kremlin chief, adding that relations with Russia have shown their “resilience” in the “new era” the world is experiencing.
EFE AND AFP
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Source: Clarin
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.