'China ready to cooperate': Xi Jinping pledges support to Putin

Created: 06/18/2022, 04:46

By: Sven Hauberg

On February 4, Vladimir Putin (left) and Xi Jinping met in person in Beijing.

© Alexei Druzhinin/ITAR-TASS/Imago

China remains on Russia's side: For the first time since the end of February, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping have spoken about the Ukraine war.

Munich/Beijing - For the second time since the beginning of the Ukraine war, China's head of state and party leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin have spoken on the phone.

In the talks on Wednesday (June 15), Xi pledged his support to Russia, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

"China stands ready to continue supporting the Russian side on issues related to core interests and major concerns such as sovereignty and security, and to intensify strategic cooperation between the two countries," Xi said.

Beijing is also "ready to work with the Russian side to promote bilateral practical cooperation."

In the statement from the Chinese Foreign Ministry, the Ukraine conflict was referred to as the "Ukraine question".

China has "always judged the Ukraine issue and its merits independently of history, and has actively promoted world peace and stability in the global economic order," Xi Jinping said.

"All parties should strive for an appropriate and responsible solution to the Ukraine crisis.

China stands ready to continue to play its due role.”

China in the Ukraine war: Now Russian President Putin is also reacting

According to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Putin pledged to "intensify multilateral cooperation with China and make constructive efforts to promote a multipolar world and build a fairer and more reasonable international order."

In Moscow, the Russian Presidential Office said, according to the AFP news agency, China and Russia want to strengthen their cooperation in the areas of energy, finance, industry and transport, among other things.

Putin and Xi also discussed "the development of military relations."

Cooperation between the two sides should be strengthened "in view of the global economic situation, which has been complicated by the illegal sanctions imposed by the West".

Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin last spoke on the phone on February 25, a day after Russia invaded Ukraine.

At the time, Xi emphasized the "sovereignty of all countries" but did not condemn the invasion.

Xi also said China is supporting Russia to "solve the issue through negotiations with Ukraine."

Xi and Putin had previously met in person at the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Beijing and issued a joint statement against NATO's eastward expansion.

China in the Ukraine War: Between Support for Russia and Alleged Neutrality

Even if China has always claimed to be neutral in the conflict since the beginning of the aggressive war, the government in Beijing has repeatedly sought to be close to Russia and emphasizes its "rock-solid" friendship with the Kremlin.

Recently, China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi described his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov as an "old friend".

Beijing rejects the West's sanctions against Russia, but according to observers does not help to circumvent them.

At the virtual EU-China summit in early April, Xi Jingping blamed the West for the escalation of the war in Ukraine.

"The root cause of the Ukraine crisis is the regional security tensions in Europe that have built up over the years," Xi said at the time.

At the same time, China has recently been increasingly negotiating the purchase of Russian oil.

According to a report by the Bloomberg news agency, Beijing is buying Russian crude oil at a 35 percent discount on the current world market price.

"What we see is that China will take good advantage of this situation of Russia's weakness," EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said.