China Extols Russia Relations, Calls For Strengthened Asia-Pacific Role

China has heralded historically strong relations with Russia as it called for the pair to coordinate on security, stability and development in the Asia-Pacific region.

China and Russia should play a “better role as an anchor of stability in the changing circumstances of the century,” the Foreign Ministry in Beijing said in a statement issued on Wednesday following a visit to Moscow by Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong.

Although wary of damaging ties with the West, Beijing has refused to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and relations between the two BRICS states have remained warm amid the war.

Sun said in the statement that “under the strategic guidance of President Xi Jinping and President Putin … relations between the two countries are at the best period in history”.

Moscow has looked to Beijing as a crucial economic lifeline amid the sanctions, while China has benefitted from cheap energy imports and access to vast natural resources.

Sun stressed Chinese hopes of deepening “coordination” in the Asia-Pacific region, extolling the role of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), a Eurasian political, economic, international security and defence organisation established in 2001.

“Both sides should promote the SCO to better play its role as a ‘stabilizing anchor’ in the century-old changes, strengthen communication and coordination in Asia-Pacific regional affairs, and jointly safeguard regional security, stability and development,” he said.

ALJAZEERA