Russian, Chinese leaders meet for ‘very confidential’ talks in Beijing

President of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping has previously visited Russia in March this year, while President Putin has attended only a sparse selection of gatherings since the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for his arrest earlier this year.

Chinese President Xi Jinping said he is pleased to see governments, ministries and agencies, regions of China and Russia working hard to implement important agreements.

“Mutual trust in our political relations is steadily growing. Close and effective strategic collaboration is being maintained. Bilateral trade has achieved historic records and is approaching the target of $200 billion we have set,” he said according to translations provided from the meeting.

“Next year marks the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Russia.

“The Chinese side is ready, together with Russia, with keen understanding of the trajectory of history and following the currents of world development, to invariably rely on the fundamental interests of the peoples of the two countries, to continuously enrich bilateral cooperation with the content necessary for the sake of the two countries’ development and prosperity in this new era; exercise a sense of responsibility as great powers, contribute to international justice and impartiality, and promote the common development of the whole world.”

Both officials also attended the opening ceremony of the Third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, during the recent meeting.

President of Russia Vladimir Putin said he welcomed the anniversary of the establishment of the PRC and USSR being the first to recognise the new China on 2 October 1949.

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“Next year will be an anniversary year for both your country and the diplomatic relations between our countries,” he said.

“You have just outlined a very strong and extensive program to further promote your road and destiny idea intended to benefit, in effect, as you say yourself, the whole of humankind. We sincerely wish you success in this noble undertaking.

“Under the difficult present-day conditions, it is particularly relevant to maintain close foreign policy coordination, something we are doing now.”

The joint discussions included an entire bilateral agenda with economics, finance, political interaction, and joint work on international platforms, President Putin said.

“We discussed the situation in the Middle East at length. I informed the president about the situation in Ukraine in detail,” he said.

“Regarding the influence of external factors and conflicts on the development of Russian–Chinese relations, all these external factors amount to common threats, and they strengthen Russian–Chinese interaction.”

President Putin also made reference to recent international speculation of long-range ATACMS missiles being covertly supplied to Ukraine by the United States of America.

“First, this is of course a harmful development and creates an additional threat,” he said.

“Second, we can fend off these attacks, make no mistake about that. War is war, and I did say that they pose a threat. This is rather obvious. What matters the most here is that this cannot bring about any radical changes along the line of contact. It is impossible. This we can say for sure.

“Finally, the next point: this is yet another mistake on the part of the United States for several reasons.

“First, if they did not supply weapons, they would be able to say in the future: ‘Had we supplied everything we could, the situation would have changed, but this would have led to more unnecessary casualties. Good for us, we did not do that’. But they did, and there will be no effect. This is a mistake for this reason alone.

“And Ukraine, in this sense, gains nothing either. This simply prolongs its agony. They have started yet another announced and expected counteroffensive in the Kherson sector – without any effect so far. Losses there are, but no result, like previously in Zaporozhye and other sectors. Therefore, this is also a mistake from this point of view.

“Finally, a larger and highly significant, if so far imperceptible mistake is that the United States is becoming more directly involved in this conflict. It is becoming involved; this is an obvious thing. And let no one say that it has nothing to do with this. We believe it has. Plus, all of this is happening against the background of the Middle East conflict and exacerbating tensions.

“They have upped and dragged two carrier task forces to the Mediterranean. I want to say – what I am going to say and inform you about is not a threat – that I have instructed the Russian Aerospace Forces to start patrolling the neutral zone over the Black Sea on the permanent basis. Our MiG-31 aircraft carry the Kinzhal systems that, as is common knowledge, have a range of over 1,000 kilometres and can reach speeds of up to Mach 9.”