Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin’s visit to China comes amid new EU sanctions on Russia over the Ukraine war, and as Moscow cements economic and energy ties with Beijing.
Developing China-Russia relations is a mutual “strategic choice”, Chinese President Xi Jinping has said, while vowing to deepen economic ties.
Meeting Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin in Beijing on Wednesday, Xi pledged that Beijing would continue to develop “high-level” political and economic relations with Moscow.
“Maintaining and developing China-Russia relations well is a strategic choice made by both sides based on the fundamental interests of the two peoples,” Xi was quoted as saying by the Chinese foreign ministry.
“Both sides should give full play to the advantages of political mutual trust, economic complementarity, interconnected facilities and people-to-people exchanges,” he said.
Xi also hailed the “strong resilience and broad prospects” for bilateral cooperation, while calling for deeper “cooperation in the fields of economy, trade, energy, connectivity and others” and for “jointly maintaining the security and stability of the industrial and supply chains”.
This came as January-November bilateral trade hit US$218 billion, reaching the US$200 billion annual target set by Xi and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin a year ahead of time. The two sides had agreed in 2019 to increase trade to US$200 billion by 2024.
