Russia, China relations reaching new milestones as planned: Putin
Putin says he awaits the visit of China's president to Russia to boost the momentum of the relations between the two countries.
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Russia's President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with China's Director of the Office of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission Wang Yi during a meeting in Moscow, Russia, on Wednesday, February 22, 2023. (Reuters)
The relations between Russia and China are reaching new milestones as they progress on the path that was planned for them in the previous years, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday during a meeting with China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Moscow.
"First of all, I would like to take the opportunity that you are here and, at the beginning of the conversation, straightforwardly convey my best wishes to our friend, the President of the People's Republic of China, Comrade Xi Jinping," Putin told China's top diplomat.
"I would like to note that Russian-Chinese relations are developing as we planned in previous years. Everything is progressing and evolving. We reach new milestones," Putin added, noting that the cooperation between the two nations is vital for stabilizing the international arena.
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Russia's leader said he is waiting for Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to the country, which will give the developing relations further momentum.
"Of course, we are waiting for the President of the People's Republic of China to visit Russia. We agreed on this before. We understand that there is a domestic political agenda. But we proceed from the fact that as all issues related to this agenda are resolved," Putin said, adding that "we are also implementing our plans through personal meetings, which will give an additional impetus to the development of our relations."
China's top diplomat, in his turn, conveyed sincere greetings from Chinese President Xi Jinping to Putin.
"Let me convey to you the sincere greetings and wishes of President Xi Jinping," Wang said.
Putin expressed his confidence that the volume of trade between Russia and China will surpass the previously planned number for 2024.
"We set the goal of reaching $200 billion by 2024. Last year, it was already $185 billion, there is every reason to believe that we will achieve our goals at the level of trade turnover, maybe even earlier than planned."
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China and Russia move firmly toward multipolar world
China's Foreign Minister met earlier today with Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Russia's security chief Nikolai Patrushev and confirmed that both Beijing and Moscow are moving firmly and confidently together toward a new multipolar world order.
China remains committed along with Russia to maintaining a positive trend in developing relations among the global powers, and together, both countries stand determined to move firmly toward establishing a multipolar world order, Wang told Lavrov.
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He also stressed during a meeting with Patrushev that the relations between Beijing and Moscow are "rock solid" and will not be affected by the unstable international circumstances, calling for deeper cooperation to fend off the Western campaign targeting both nations.
Some background
Earlier last week, China said it will never accept that US "finger-pointing" target China-Russia relations and called on Washington to work toward a political settlement of the Ukraine crisis instead of deteriorating the situation.
"We never accept the US's finger-pointing or even coercion targeting China-Russia relations," said China's Foreign Ministry in a statement following a meeting between Wang and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference (MSC).
China's top diplomat landed in Moscow on Tuesday on his final stop, following a brief European tour during which he attended the MSC.
