On Tuesday, China’s Foreign Ministry made public details about a telephone conversation between Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, where the two discussed the situation in Kazakhstan and summed up China-Russia relations for 2022.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin called the conversation a “vivid illustration” of high-level diplomatic relations between Beijing and Moscow. The two foreign ministers primarily discussed Kazakhstan as Lavrov shared Russia’s assessment of the situation following an extraordinary session of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). “More and more information shows clearly that what’s happening in Kazakhstan is a riot carefully choreographed by external forces,” Lavrov said. Yi reiterated Chinese President Xi Jinping’s message of solidarity to Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, saying, “China is ready to provide support to the best of its capacity to help Kazakhstan tide over the difficulties. The Chinese people will forever stand with the Kazakh people.”
Both Wang and Lavrov expressed their commitment towards strengthening ties between Beijing and Moscow to ensure security in Central Asia. The two diplomats affirmed that China and Russia will continue to “oppose foreign forces’ interference in Central Asian countries’ domestic affairs and forestall ‘colour revolutions’ and the evildoing of terrorist, separatist and extremist forces.” They also called for greater cooperation between the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the CSTO to deal with regional challenges together.
Both envoys also highlighted Russian President Vladimir Putin’s upcoming meeting with President Xi Jinping for the Winter Olympics in Beijing.
According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, the two leaders spoke about the meeting between the United States (US) and Russia regarding Putin’s security guarantees and the impending meeting between Russia and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).
In August 2021, Wang and Lavrov affirmed their support for China and Russia working together during negotiations with the Taliban. Last year, China and Russia signed a roadmap for closer military ties between the two countries due to concerns over America’s military activity at their borders, especially the US-NATO activity near Russian borders and the US-Taiwan relationship at the Chinese border.