China’s Xi Jinping, Russia’s Vladimir Putin agree to boost ties amid growing US unilateralism
Two nations will ‘build a new type of international relations and shared human destiny’, Chinese leader says
Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin have vowed to bolster Sino-Russian ties and oppose unilateralism, as the two nations seek to counterbalance the United States’ power on the international stage.
The two leaders met for the third time this year on Tuesday on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok. The talks coincided with the start of Vostok 2018, Russia’s largest military exercise since the Soviet era, and which involves troops from China and Mongolia.
According to China’s state broadcaster CCTV, Xi told Putin that the frequent high-level exchanges between the two countries reflected the “uniqueness and distinction” of their relationship.
Putin acknowledged Xi’s commitment to boosting ties between Moscow and Beijing, which he said were based on trust in areas ranging from politics to defence.
“We have a relationship of trust in the sphere of politics, security and defence,” he said. “We know that you [Xi] personally pay great attention to the development of Russian-Chinese relations.”
The new era of closer Sino-Russian relations is born out of concerns that the US-China trade war – sparked by US President Donald Trump’s “America first” foreign policy and which has cost Beijing billions of dollars in export tariffs – could escalate into a cold war between the two countries.
Russia, too, has been under significant pressure from the US. Last month, Washington imposed fresh sanctions on Moscow in response to the Kremlin’s cyberattacks and suspected involvement in the poisoning of former double agent Sergei Skripal on British soil in March.
