While the Chinese President and his Russian counterpart prepare to meet this week, a top Chinese official stated that China is eager to alter the international order in a "more just and rational path."

China and Russia have grown closer in recent years as part of a "no limits" alliance that serves as a counterweight to the United States' global supremacy and hegemony.

"Under the strategic guidance of President Xi Jinping and President (Vladimir) Putin, the relationship between the two countries has always moved forward on the right track," the Communist Party's foreign affairs chief Yang Jiechi told Russia's Ambassador to China Andrey Denisov on Monday, according to a Foreign Ministry readout.

Yang said China was "willing to work with Russia to continuously implement the spirit of high-level strategic cooperation between the two countries, safeguard the common interests of both sides, and promote the development of the international order in a more just and rational direction," according to the Ministry.

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Denisov in response praised the "fruitful results" of bilateral relations, the readout said.

Since being slammed with unprecedented Western sanctions over the war in Ukraine, Russia has moved to strengthen connections with Asian countries, particularly China.

Adding to Sino-Western tensions, Beijing criticized Western sanctions and arms deliveries to Kiev. Putin and Xi are scheduled to meet in Uzbekistan this week on the sidelines of a regional summit.

A week ago, Li Zhanshu, Beijing's top legislator, hailed an "unprecedented level" of trust and cooperation between Moscow and Beijing.

Sino-Western relations

Yesterday, China was ready to work with Russia with the aim to promote shared interests and a common vision of fairer world order, the country's top foreign policy official Yang Jiechi.

"China is ready to work together with Russia to fill high-level strategic cooperation between the two countries with new meaning, protect shared interests and promote a fairer and more reasonable world order," Yang said in Beijing.    

Yang who served as China’s Foreign Minister between 2007 and 2013 welcomed outgoing Russian Ambassador Andrey Denisov and spoke highly of his contribution to the Russian-Chinese bilateral ties. 

He said their ties had been moving forward steadily along the right path under presidents Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin, with the two countries backing each other in securing their interests and cooperating at the international level.

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