China wants to expand its strategic partnership with neighboring Russia in high-level talks that take place just days after the debut talks with US President Joe Biden became strained.
As the dust settled from the Chinese Communist Party’s Director of the Foreign Affairs Commission, Yang Jiechi, and Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s confrontational meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the national White House security adviser Jake Sullivan arrived in Alaska last Thursday, Russia’s own top diplomat arrived in China on Monday for a two-day visit.
Prior to the talks, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov revealed the direction of the ever-warming ties between Moscow and Beijing in an interview with Chinese media.
Lavrov warned that “the Western countries, led by the United States, are hindering the objective trend towards the emergence of a truly multipolar democratic world, which wants to maintain and control their dominance over the world economy and international politics at all costs and their demands on each and every one. ‘
He claims that China and Russia offer a viable alternative because they promote a constructive unification agenda.
“We want the architecture of international relations to be fair, democratic, and it can ensure stability and be based on broad interaction between states and their integration associations,” Lavrov said, “just as we do with our Chinese friends by to promote integration in Eurasia. “
These points were welcomed in Beijing by Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hua Chunying, who said their relationship was more important than ever.
“The more volatile the world, the more China and Russia need to promote our cooperation,” Hua said. “For a long time, the US and the West have deliberately intervened in the domestic affairs of other countries using democracy and human rights as an excuse. Such movements have created problems in the world and even become the source of instability and war. . “
She said China and Russia “always work closely together, strongly reject hegemony and bullying practices and have become an important force for world peace and stability.”
In light of historic challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Hua said: “It is fair to say that relations between China and Russia have withstood the test and become stronger with our friendship growing even closer. has.”
She predicted that this new collaboration would expand.
Hua said Lavrov’s visit would further strengthen the healthy momentum of the high level of bilateral relations and bring the two countries closer together in strategic cooperation on international affairs.
Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Hua said the agenda ‘includes in-depth communication on a wide range of key issues, including bilateral relations, coordination in international and regional affairs and high-level exchanges between China and Russia’.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Monday issued a statement on specific areas of international interest such as the United States, Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and key issues. of unrest in Asia. .
“The ministers informed each other about Russia and China’s relations with the United States,” the ministry said. “They also discussed a number of current issues of the World Agenda, including cooperation within the United Nations and other international organizations, the situation in Afghanistan and Myanmar, and issues surrounding the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).”
The meeting allegedly “took place in a confidential, friendly atmosphere and reaffirmed the unity of approaches to the topic discussed.”
These cooperation talks between China and Russia immediately follow on the heels of controversial interactions between both countries and the US
The Chinese team in Anchorage has reacted strongly to the Biden administration which has raised sensitive issues regarding China’s sovereignty and alleged human rights violations. The US party has also accused China of ‘forcing’ the international community through economic and political pressure, an accusation that Hua said on Monday is more appropriate for Washington than Beijing.
“Both the two peoples and the overwhelming majority of countries, including people in US allies, hope to see a peaceful coexistence of China and the US,” she said. “The two countries can share more mutual friends. We hope the US can show the trust and attitude of an important country, and stop forcing other countries to take sides and interfere in China’s domestic affairs and China to undermine their interests. “
Blinken told reporters on Friday that he and Sullivan were fully aware of the discussion that ‘there are a number of areas in which we are fundamentally at odds, including China’s actions in Xinjiang, with regard to Hong Kong, Tibet and increasingly Taiwan . as actions done in cyberspace. “
“And it is no surprise that we received a pensive response when we addressed these issues clearly and directly,” he said.
Biden also sparked outrage in Russia after agreeing to characterize President Vladimir Putin as a “murderer” during an interview with ABC News, in which he said Russia would pay a price for alleged interference in the US election. 2020. Moscow responded by recalling its ambassador, and Putin challenged Biden to a lively discussion, an offer apparently not yet accepted.
“As far as I understand, the American side is not ready,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday, according to the state-run Tass Russian News Agency.
Russia’s foreign ministry also weighed in on Monday.
“We regret that the US party did not support Russian President Vladimir Putin’s proposal to US President Joe Biden for a live broadcast on 19 or 22 March 2021 on the problems that have built up in bilateral relations. “as well as on the issue of strategic stability,” the ministry said. . The responsibility for this lies entirely with the United States. “
Russian Ministry of Defense
China and Russia have so far avoided the idea of establishing a formal military alliance, although the two have significantly expanded their cooperation in various fields, including defense, economics and politics. The two increasingly supported each other in areas of mutual interest, and together with 15 other signatories formed the “Group of Friends in Defense of the United Nations Charter”, which shared with Newsweek his call for additional members earlier this month.
The two countries will also celebrate on July 20 the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Good Environment and Friendly Cooperation, which Hua said on Monday would serve as an “opportunity to carry on the spirit of the treaty and China- Promote Russia’s comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era of greater scope, in wider areas and at deeper levels. ‘
“The two parties will join hands to build a model of international relations with strategic trust, mutually beneficial cooperation, close ties between people, justice and fairness,” she said. “Together, the two parties can make a greater contribution to maintaining world peace and stability.”
In contrast, the US strengthened its commitment to existing military alliances, such as the Western NATO military bloc, for which Blinken would emphasize support after leaving for Belgium on Monday. The Cold War coalition has accused Russia of aggressive moves, something Moscow denies.
In Asia, where Biden Blinken’s government met with Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to meet with allies and partners ahead of Alaska talks with China, the US has locked up a new regional grouping known as the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue. , which also includes Australia, India. and Japan. The quartet has increased cooperation in Asia, including in the South China Sea, of which Beijing claims many as its own.
The Biden government has increasingly criticized China over its domestic affairs and has issued sanctions against officials over changes in the administration of semi-autonomous Hong Kong and over alleged human rights violations against the Muslim Uighur community in Xinjiang.
Washington and Beijing also traded strictly on the status of Taiwan, a self-governing island claimed by China but maintaining informal military and political ties with the United States.