Chinese leader Xi Jinping met a top Russian lawmaker, underscoring the warm relations the nations have forged following the invasion of Ukraine.
Beijing was willing to work with Moscow so ties featured “comprehensive strategic coordination and mutually beneficial cooperation,” Xi told Vyacheslav Volodin, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
Volodin, speaker of the of the Duma, Russia’s lower legislative house, said relations have reached “the best level in history” and that Russia firmly supports China in safeguarding its territorial integrity, according to the report.
Beijing has provided Moscow with diplomatic and economic support since Vladimir Putin ordered the attack on Ukraine in February 2022, cover that has mitigated the effects of Western sanctions on Russia.
Last month, Chinese Premier Li Qiang told Russian counterpart Mikhail Mishustin that he wants to boost their trade and other cooperation between the nations.
Also in October, Xi reiterated to Putin that deepening ties is not an expedient but a long-term solution. Putin was visiting Beijing for the Belt and Road Forum, which Xi touted as an alternative to the US-led world order. It was a rare trip abroad for the Russian leader after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant against him in March for alleged war crimes in Ukraine.
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The two nations have also recently reinforced their military bonds, with Zhang Youxia, vice chair of China’s top military body, and counterpart Sergei Shoigu meeting at a security forum in the Chinese capital.
Beijing has placed some boundaries on ties since Xi and Putin declared a “no limits” friendship between their nations just before the Winter Olympics in 2022. Xi hasn’t provided any major military aid to Russia that would provoke US sanctions against China, and he’s warned against the use of nuclear weapons and attacks on civilians.
Beijing has sought to cast itself as a neutral broker on the war by releasing a blueprint for bringing peace to Ukraine in February this year, though the proposal has made little progress.
China’s exports to Russia have jumped this year, following the West severing trade ties due to the war. China has also stepped up fossil fuel imports from Russia.
More: China’s Selling So Much to Russia That Containers Are Piling Up
--With assistance from Evelyn Yu.
(Updates with details of Xi’s meeting with Volodin.)
