In a speech he delivered after his meeting with Vladimir Putin, on the sidelines of the opening ceremony of the third Belt and Road Initiative Forum, Xi Jinping began his speech by praising the state of relations with his Russian counterpart.
“Political mutual trust is steadily deepening, and strategic cooperation is effective and close. “Bilateral trade has reached historic levels, and is moving strongly towards the goal we set of $200 billion annually.”
Noting that next year marks the 75th anniversary of the establishment of relations between the two countries, Xi said China wants to work with Russia “to understand the historical trend of global development on the basis of the interests of our two peoples.” His Russian counterpart.
“We should further enrich bilateral cooperation, reflecting our responsibility as powers, and continue to contribute to the modernization of our two countries,” the Chinese leader said.
“We should make efforts to jointly safeguard international justice” and “promote global development,” he added.
Vladimir Putin, in turn, praised the Belt and Road Initiative, launched by Beijing, “to create a more just and multipolar world.”
“We are happy with the success of this initiative, which is capable of connecting and integrating several regions,” Putin said, highlighting “the importance of coordination with China” on issues such as logistics and communication.
“Equal and mutually beneficial cooperation”
In a speech that followed Xi Jinping’s speech, the Russian president said he was “pleased to see the success of the initiative” and showed “hope” that Beijing’s project would offer “collective solutions” to “relevant problems” facing the world.
The Russian President said that Russia and China “aspire to equal and mutually beneficial cooperation,” which includes “respect for cultural diversity and the right of each country to its own development model.”
The Belt and Road Initiative is an ambitious, yet controversial, project that aims to increase connectivity and trade around the world through Chinese infrastructure projects. Under the Belt and Road Initiative, Chinese companies have built ports, roads, railway lines or power plants around the world, with financing from Chinese development banks.
China is now the world’s largest international creditor, but its massive international infrastructure program faces challenges caused by excessive debt in some countries and commercially unviable projects, some of which have remained incomplete due to lack of liquidity.
The Russian president is one of the 20 world leaders invited by Xi Jinping to attend the forum held in Beijing.
Putin arrived in the Chinese capital on Tuesday despite an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court against him on charges of illegal deportation of Ukrainian children.
The meeting between the two comes at a time of geopolitical crisis fueled by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or the Russian attack in Ukraine, on which China has maintained an ambiguous position.
China served as a “lifeline” for Moscow after the invasion of Ukraine. The Asian country is now Russia’s main trading partner and diplomatic ally.
With agencies
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