China’s top diplomat Wang Yi has hailed relations between Moscow and Beijing as “rock solid” amid reports that Chinese President, Xi Jinping, is due to visit Russia in the coming months.
Speaking on Tuesday in Moscow where Mr Wang met with Nikolai Patrushev, a close ally of Russian President, Vladimir Putin, and secretary of Russia’s security council, Mr Wang told “comrade” Patrushev through a Russian interpreter: “Chinese-Russian relations are mature in character: they are rock solid and will withstand any test in a changing international situation,” according to remarks aired on state television.
He also said Russia and China should work to ensure the security of both countries, without elaborating on what that would look like.
Mr Patrushev agreed the two countries should stick together, saying: “In the context of a campaign that is being waged by the collective West to contain both Russia and China, the further deepening of Russian-Chinese cooperation and interaction in the international arena is of particular importance.”
“I want to confirm our continued support for Beijing over the issues of Taiwan, Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong,” Mr Patrushev added.
Mr Wang is due to meet Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, on Wednesday and a meeting with President Putin has not been ruled out.
The high-profile visit comes amid reports President Xi will also visit Russia in the coming months to meet the Russian leader.
![China's Director of the Office of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission Wang Yi meets with Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto (not seen) in Budapest, Hungary, February 20, 2023. REUTERS/Bernadett Szabo](https://wp.inews.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/SEI_145090621.jpg?w=760)
Mr Xi’s meeting with Mr Putin is due to be part of a peace-talks push on Ukraine and include calls that nuclear weapons should not be used, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. Preparations were said to be at an early stage and timing could be in April or early May when Russia celebrates its Second World War victory over Germany.
The meeting between Russia and China comes at a tense time for international relations as the US believes China is contemplating providing lethal support to Russia in the war against Ukraine.
On Sunday, US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, said the US had information China was considering stepping up its political and rhetorical support for the war so far, and accused China of “trying to have it both ways” by publicly calling for peace but assisting Moscow behind the scenes.
It also comes as US President, Joe Biden, gave a speech in Poland outlining the US position on the war in Ukraine, after visiting Kyiv on Monday in a surprise appearance in which he vowed the US would be there for the long haul.
The US has been the main weapons supplier to Ukraine and is currently suffering from particularly frosty relations with China after the shooting down of an alleged spy balloon the US claimed was hovering over sensitive military sites. China claims it was a weather monitoring device that had blown off course.
More on Russia-Ukraine
Russia and China signed a “no limits” partnership just days before Russia invaded Ukraine last February. President Xi is also expected to make a “peace speech” on Friday to mark the one-year anniversary of the war.
Meanwhile, China’s foreign minister, Qin Gang, said on Tuesday the country was “deeply worried” the conflict in Ukraine could spiral out of control.
“China is deeply worried that the Ukraine conflict will continue to escalate or even spiral out of control”, Qin said in a speech at a forum held at the foreign ministry.
“We urge certain countries to immediately stop fuelling the fire,” he said in comments that appeared to be directed at the United States, adding that they must “stop hyping up ‘today Ukraine, tomorrow Taiwan'”.
Also on Tuesday, China released a paper on the Global Security Initiative, Xi’s flagship security proposal which aims to uphold the principle of “indivisible security”, a concept endorsed by Moscow. Russia has insisted that Western governments respect a 1999 agreement based on the principle of “indivisible security” that no country can strengthen its own security at the expense of others.
With input from agencies