Chinese President Xi Jinping, meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Beijing, called for further deepening of strategic coordination between China and Russia. The aim, he said, is to jointly defend the legitimate interests of the two countries and strengthen the unity of the Global South.

During the meeting, Xi Jinping asked Lavrov to convey warm greetings to Russian President Vladimir Putin. He also recalled that this year is a significant one - it marks 30 years since the establishment of the China-Russia Strategic Coordination Partnership and 25 years since the signing of the Treaty of Good Neighbourliness and Friendly Cooperation.

According to Xi Jinping, Sino-Russian relations have maintained a high level of development and have yielded concrete results in many areas. He described the stability of these relations as particularly valuable in the context of the volatile international situation.

Xi Jinping stressed the need to strengthen strategic communication and diplomatic coordination to further deepen the comprehensive strategic partnership coordination. Both countries, he said, should take responsibility for maintaining global stability as superpowers and permanent members of the UN Security Council.

He also called for better leveraging of complementary advantages, expanding comprehensive cooperation and strengthening the resilience of self-development. Deepening multilateral cooperation within the UN, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and BRICS is also to be an important part of this.

Lavrov conveyed Vladimir Putin's greetings to Xi Jinping and said that relations between Russia and China show a high degree of resilience despite the difficult international environment. He also praised growing trade and investment cooperation as well as coordination in multilateral structures.

According to Lavrov, Russia seeks to further develop relations with China, strengthen practical cooperation, cultural and people-to-people contacts and jointly promote international justice and stability.

CMG