Xi urges joint efforts with Putin to ‘safeguard international fairness, justice’
Beijing, Oct 18 (EFE).- China’s President Xi Jinping touted his country’s “deepening” relationship with Russia and asked its leader Vladimir Putin in Beijing on Wednesday for joint efforts to “safeguard international fairness” and “justice,” according to state media.
Xi praised the state of relations between the countries and highlighted that “political mutual trust between the two countries are continuously deepening,” reported the state news agency Xinhua about the pair’s meeting.
“The two countries have maintained close and effective strategic coordination and bilateral trade volume has reached a historical high, which is progressing toward the goal of 200 billion US dollars set by the two sides,” Xi reportedly said.
Xi and Putin met Wednesday at the end of the inauguration of the Third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in the Chinese capital, to which the Russian leader has traveled despite the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court against him for the illegal transfer and deportation of Ukrainian children.
The leaders have met “42 times in the past 10 years and have developed a good working relationship and a deep friendship,” highlighted the Chinese president, who noted that next year will mark the 75th anniversary of the establishment of relations between both countries.
The meeting between the pair comes amid geopolitical crises fueled by the war between the Israeli government and Hamas, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, on which China has maintained an ambiguous position.
Just a week before Russia invaded Ukraine, Xi and Putin committed themselves in Beijing to a friendship with “no limits” and since then they have said that their ties do not threaten any country and that in reality they promote the “multipolarization of the world.”
Putin landed in Beijing on Tuesday with a large delegation of senior officials, including two deputy prime ministers, as well as the heads of foreign affairs, economy, finance and others.
Also part of the delegation are the Central Bank governor, the head of Russian railways, as well as Sberbank and VTB bank, Rosneft, the gas company Gazprom, the atomic agency Rosatom and other executives.
At the forum, Beijing seeks to seduce the Global South with multimillion-dollar investment projects that, however, have also received criticism for the debt risks they entail. EFE
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