20/3/2023–|Last updated: 3/20/202306:54 PM (Makkah)
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping started a meeting in Moscow on Monday, a meeting aimed at strengthening the alliance between Beijing and Moscow once morest the West.
The Russian president told his Chinese counterpart in the Kremlin that he had seen China’s proposals to resolve the conflict in Ukraine, and that he viewed them with respect and interest. Putin said that his country “is always open to the negotiation process and respects the Chinese plan on Ukraine.”
Putin also said, during talks in the Kremlin at the start of Xi’s official visit to Moscow, that Russia “envies” China a little for its rapid development in the past decades.
“The Chinese state has become stronger under your administration,” Putin told Xi Jinping, praising Beijing’s “balanced” positions on regional and international issues.
For his part, the Chinese president affirmed his country’s interest in developing relations with Russia “because we are neighbors and strategic partners,” noting that the two countries “have similar goals and we are working to develop relations between us.”
Xi said that Russia “has been able to achieve great success in the development of the country, and its people firmly support its president,” stressing the need for joint work “to achieve all goals related to justice and equality in the world.”
Strengthening relationships
The Chinese president arrived in Russia for a three-day visit to promote strategic cooperation between the two countries.
At the outset of his visit, the Chinese president said his country is ready to stand firmly with Russia to protect international law, adding that the visit will be “fruitful and give new impetus to strengthening relations with Russia.”
Commenting on the visit, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko said that Kiev hopes that Chinese President Xi Jinping will use his “influence” with the Russian president to “stop” the Russian war on Ukraine.
“Ukraine is closely following the Chinese president’s visit to Russia,” Nikolenko said, shortly following Xi Jinping’s arrival in Moscow. “We expect Beijing to use its influence on Moscow to stop the war of aggression once morest Ukraine.”
In the same context, Britain expressed its “hope” that the Chinese president would urge his Russian counterpart to stop the war and “atrocities” in Ukraine during his visit to Moscow.
“We hope that President Xi will use this opportunity to urge President Putin to stop bombing cities, hospitals and schools in Ukraine, and to put an end to the atrocities that we witness daily,” said a spokesman for British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak following Xi Jinping’s arrival in Moscow.