Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Russian PM Mikhail Mishustin in Beijing on Wednesday. This meeting followed two previous ones between Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this year.
Comments from China
Xi announced that China and Russia had achieved their yearly goal of reaching $200 billion in trade volume within the first 11 months of this year. This, he said, demonstrated “the strong resilience and broad prospects of mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries.”
He added that “maintaining and developing” bilateral relations had been “a strategic choice made by both sides” based on their “fundamental interests.”
President Xi Jinping met with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin. Sustaining and growing China-Russia relations is a strategic choice the two sides have made based on the fundamental interests of the two peoples. pic.twitter.com/Gc8TshVXex
— Hua Chunying 华春莹 (@SpokespersonCHN) December 20, 2023
He also expressed support to Russia “in taking the development path of [its] own choice.”
“China is willing to work with Russia to take the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Russia next year as a new starting point, [and] continuously amplify the positive effects of the high-level political relations between the two countries,” Xi concluded.
Comments from Russia
Mishustin said that the two successful meetings between Putin and Xi this year “reflected the firm will” of both sides “to deepen their comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination.”
He added that, on Tuesday, the two sides successfully held the 28th regular meeting between the Russian and Chinese PMs.
“Russia is satisfied with the steady growth of bilateral practical cooperation between the two countries and is willing to work with China to further tap potential, expand cooperation in the fields of economy, trade, energy, and connectivity, successfully host the Cultural Year,” the Russian leader said.