Moscow seeks to deepen economic and political as well as security relations with Beijing
Russian President Vladimir Putin will speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping via video link tomorrow, Friday, to discuss bilateral and regional issues.
“First of all, they will talk about Russia-China bilateral relations,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters today.
“And, of course, it will be very important for them to exchange views on more high-intensity regional problems — those that are closer to us, to Russia, and those that are closer to China,” Peskov added, without elaborating. .
Moscow is seeking to deepen economic, political and security ties with Beijing after sending its armed forces into Ukraine in February. The two countries signed a “borderless” strategic partnership just days before Russia launched its campaign.
Beijing has also increased purchases of Russian oil and gas after European countries cut ties with Russia, while Moscow has publicly backed Xi’s position on Taiwan and accused the West of trying to foment a conflict over the status of the self-governing island, the which China claims as its own.
But Xi has at times appeared cool about Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine: Putin publicly admitted in September that his Chinese counterpart has “concerns” about Russia’s actions.
