China, Russia should safeguard security, development interests, says Xi
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Chinese President Xi Jinping said that China and Russia should continue their traditional friendship and deepen strategic mutual trust.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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BEIJING – China and Russia should jointly safeguard their security and development interests, Chinese President Xi Jinping told the visiting Russian Parliament speaker on Aug 26, in their efforts to build a more “equitable” international order.
The two sides should continue their traditional friendship and deepen strategic mutual trust, state-run Xinhua news agency quoted Mr Xi as saying.
US President Donald Trump said earlier this week that he might impose “massive” sanctions on Russia in two weeks depending on whether progress was possible in his bid to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Mr Trump held a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska earlier in August, but has been unable to coax him into a meeting with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky.
On Aug 25, Mr Trump said China had to give the US rare earth magnets or “we have to charge them 200 per cent tariff or something”.
Mr Vyacheslav Volodin, chairman of Russia’s lower house of Parliament the State Duma, arrived in China on Aug 25 ahead of Mr Putin’s visit to China this weekend, where he will cross paths with tens of Global South world leaders, including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, at a security forum.
Indian exporters are bracing for additional 25 per cent US tariffs from Aug 27 as punishment for New Delhi's purchases of Russian oil.
Russia and China should “unite” the countries in the Global South, Mr Xi told Mr Volodin, a key domestic ally of Mr Putin’s.
Mr Putin will also be the principal foreign guest of honour at a military parade in Beijing next week, marking the formal surrender of Japan and the end of World War II.
Ahead of what is set to be a massive public showcase of China’s modernising armed forces, Beijing has mounted a campaign saying China and the former Soviet Union played a pivotal role in the Asian and European theatres during World War II.
China-Russia relations serve as a “source of stability for world peace”, said Mr Xi. REUTERS
