China, Russia take another step closer, agreeing to strengthen coordination on Asian affairs

Senior diplomats ‘reach broad consensus’ to boost strategic communication and jointly maintain regional peace and stability in virtual talks

Meanwhile, China’s envoy to Russia welcomes Vladimir Putin’s visit to Beijing for the Winter Games next week, highlighting the nations’ friendship

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China and Russia are moving closer as both nations come under growing pressure from the West. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 8:00pm, 26 Jan 2022

Senior Chinese and Russian diplomats have agreed to step up coordination on Asian affairs, the latest sign the neighbouring countries are moving closer amid growing pressure from the West.

The agreement was reached on Tuesday during a virtual meeting between Liu Jinsong, head of the Asian affairs unit at China’s foreign ministry, and Ovchinnikov Alexey Mikhailovich, who heads the Russian foreign ministry’s Asia-Pacific department.

“The two sides had a friendly and in-depth exchange of views on the current situation in Asia, their respective regional and national policies, regional cooperation and regional hotspot issues, and reached broad consensus,” according to a Chinese foreign ministry statement on Wednesday.

The statement said the two sides agreed to further “strengthen strategic communication and coordination on Asian affairs, jointly maintain regional peace and stability, and promote cooperation and development”.

Liu Jinsong, head of the Chinese foreign ministry’s Asian affairs unit, met his Russian counterpart by videoconference on Tuesday. Photo: Weibo

It comes after the Russian ambassador to China, Andrey Denisov, on Tuesday revealed that Moscow had been keeping Beijing informed on the content and progress of its security talks with the United States and Nato countries.

Denisov said the meetings were not related to China but “our Chinese friends are paying close attention to the talks”.

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