China's top diplomat Wang Yi, Russia's security chief agree on 'peace, stability'

China's top diplomat, Wang Yi met with leaders of the China-Russia Strategic Security Consultation Mechanism and Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of Russia's Security Council, and discussed ways to improve global governance, with both sides agreeing that peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region should be resolutely upheld and opposing the introduction of a Cold War "mentality", according to a statement from the Chinese foreign ministry.

The two sides exchanged views on the Ukraine situation, the statement said, without elaborating. It added the two sides expressed their willingness to jointly practice "true multilateralism, oppose all forms of unilateral bullying, and promote the democratisation of international relations and the multi-polarisation of the world".

Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomed Yi to the Kremlin, telling him that bilateral trade was better than expected and could soon reach $200 billion a year, up from $185 billion in 2022.

While sitting with Yi, Putin said that China's Xi Jinping would visit Russia, saying relations had reached "new frontiers" amid US concerns that Beijing could provide material support to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Wang told Putin that relations between the two countries had withstood the pressure from a volatile international situation.

The diplomat earlier met Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, saying that he looked forward to clinching new agreements during his visit to Moscow. There were no details on the agreements.

China is Russia's largest buyer of oil, one of the key sources of revenues for Moscow's state coffers.

Chinese weapons supplies to Russia would threaten a potential escalation of the Ukraine war into a confrontation between Russia and China on the one side and Ukraine and the US-led Nato military alliance on the other.

Reuters