During a phone call on Monday, Russian FM Sergey Lavrov and his newly-appointed Chinese counterpart, Qin Gang, jointly rejected the US’ policy “to establish a hegemony in global affairs” to “provoke confrontation with Russia and China.”
In a statement by the Russian Foreign Ministry, the pair slammed the US and its “satellites” for interfering in their “domestic affairs” and attempting to “constrain the development of the two countries through sanctions and other illegitimate methods.”
The ministers noted the rejection of the US policy of provoking confrontation with China and Russia, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
— Abhijit Halder (@Abhijithalderr) January 9, 2023
Both leaders underscored that “Moscow and Beijing were united in their approaches to fundamental matters on the global development agenda.”
“China-Russia relations are based on the principle of non-alignment, non-confrontation, and non-direction at the third party,” Qin said. He also noted that Beijing is ready to work with Moscow “to implement the important consensus” reached by Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to “continuously push forward” bilateral relations.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry’s readout further mentioned that the two ministers “exchanged views” on the Ukraine war, with Qin stressing that “China will continue to view and handle” it according to Xi’s guidelines. He also urged Kyiv and Moscow to end the crisis peacefully. However, the Russian Foreign Ministry did not include any reference to the Ukraine war.
Foreign Minister Qin Gang today held a phone conversation with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov. The two FMs exchanged views on the bilateral relations and the Ukraine crisis. FM Qin also held phone talks respectively with the Foreign Ministers of Pakistan and the ROK.
— Zhang Jun (@ChinaAmbUN) January 9, 2023
Additionally, both FMs “noted progress on plans to align the Eurasian Economic Union’s development with the Belt and Road Initiative.”
Lavrov also invited Qin to visit Russia “at a convenient time.”
The former Chinese Ambassador to the US replaced Wang Yi as FM last month in an effort to mend strained ties between Beijing and Washington.
The phone call came against the backdrop of Putin and Xi holding a videoconference last month, wherein Xi said that there was an ongoing “tug of war” between those wanting to “revert to a Cold War mentality, provoke division and antagonism, and stoke confrontation between blocs” and those wanting to “promote equality, mutual respect, and win-win cooperation,” which was “testing the wisdom of statesmen in major countries.”