Russia to safeguard int'l fairness, justice with China, says Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin (2nd R) meets with Wang Yi (2nd L), a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs in St. Petersburg, Russia, Sept. 20, 2023. (Xinhua/Cao Yang)

ST. PETERSBURG, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday said his country is willing to cooperate with China to resist unipolar hegemony and bloc confrontation, and safeguard international fairness and justice.

Putin made the remarks when meeting with Wang Yi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs in St. Petersburg.

Putin said that Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Russia in March this year marked a new era in the relationship between the two countries. Since then, important agreements reached between the two sides have been steadily implemented, resulting in positive outcomes in various fields such as economic and trade cooperation, cultural exchanges, and sports.

He said Russia has overcome the impact of unilateral sanctions imposed by Western countries and its economy has started to recover and function normally this year, adding that Russia is ready to strengthen planning and deepen practical cooperation with China.

Putin stressed that Russia highly appreciates and firmly supports the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), opposes distortions and smears against the BRI, and is willing to enhance alignment between the Eurasian Economic Union and the BRI to promote regional integration.

Putin stated that the evolution of the current international situation fully validates President Xi's strategic assessment that the world is undergoing major changes unseen in a century. Through the collective efforts of Russia, China and other parties, the BRICS successfully expanded membership this year, taking BRICS cooperation to a new level. Russia is willing to maintain close coordination with China within multilateral frameworks such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the BRICS mechanism, to resist unipolar hegemony and bloc confrontation, and to safeguard international fairness and justice.

Wang, for his part, said the heads of state of the two countries had a successful meeting this year, jointly outlining a new blueprint for the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination in the new era. This has provided a clear direction and injected strong momentum for the further development of bilateral relations.

Wang noted that during his current visit, he had comprehensive discussions with Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of Russia's Security Council, and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on cooperation in various fields between the two countries.

Wang said China is willing to work together with Russia, taking the important consensus reached by the heads of state of the two countries as the fundamental guideline, to enhance strategic mutual trust, deepen practical cooperation, and further consolidate the public opinion and social foundation of friendship between China and Russia.

He said that faced with a complex international situation, the world is rapidly moving toward multipolarity, economic globalization is progressing against headwinds, unilateral actions are unsustainable, and hegemonism is not popular. As permanent members of the UN Security Council, China and Russia bear important responsibilities for promoting global development and progress. Both sides need to strengthen their multilateral strategic cooperation, protect their legitimate rights and interests, and make new efforts to promote the international order toward fairness and justice.

The two sides also exchanged views on the current international and regional situation. On the Ukraine issue, Putin reiterated Russia's willingness to resolve it through dialogue and negotiation.

During his visit to Russia, Wang Yi also co-chaired the 18th round of China-Russia strategic security consultation, attended a meeting between high representatives of China, Russia and Mongolia on security issues, and met separately with Lavrov and Jadamba Enkhbayar, secretary of the Mongolian National Security Council.