Russian-Chinese military cooperation helps strengthen strategic and trust-based relations between the two countries, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday at a meeting with visiting Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu.
He hailed successful and comprehensive cooperation between Moscow and Beijing in the defense sphere. "I think that it is another major area, which strengthens the trust-based, strategic character of our relations, relations between Russia and China," Putin said.
He hailed Russian-Chinese military cooperation, noting that Russia’s and China’s defense ministries exchange useful information and hold joint drills.
The Russian president recalled Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit to Russia in March, when cooperation between the defense ministries was among the topics.
He noted that the Chinese defense minister "has quite rich working program" in Russia. "We are glad to see you. I am sure that your visit will be held at the highest possible level. Welcome to Russia!" Putin said.
The meeting in the Kremlin was also attended by Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu.
The Russian defense ministry said on April 14 that Li Shangfu will pay his first foreign visit as defense minister to Russia on April 16-18. He plans to have talks with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Shoigu, to discuss "the current state and prospects for the development of bilateral cooperation in the defense sphere, as well as current issues of global and regional security.".
Putin asks visiting Chinese defense minister to convey his best wishes to President Xi
Russian President Vladimir Putin has asked visiting Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu to convey his best wishes to Chinese President Xi Jinping.
"I am very glad to see you," Putin said welcoming the Chinese minister in the Kremlin.
"Please convey my best wishes to [Chinese] President Xi Jinping," he added.
The Russian leader recalled that his Chinese counterpart had visited Russia not long ago. "You have arrived in Russia after the visit to our country by our big friend, my friend - Chinese President Xi Jinping. I would like to stress once again that the visit was very productive," Putin said.
Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Moscow on March 20-22. On the first day of Xi’s visit, the two leaders spoke one-on-one for 4.5 hours and held talks in various formats for six hours on the following day. The visit yielded two joint statements of the presidents.
A month prior, on February 22, Putin received Director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and member of the CCP Politburo Wang Yi.
Putin stressed that the Russian and Chinese defense ministries share information regularly.
"As for defense departments, we are working just as actively, regularly exchanging useful information, cooperating in the military-technical field, conducting joint exercises, moreover, at different theaters, including in the Far East region, in Europe, and at sea, and on the land and in the air," Putin said during the meeting, which was attended by Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu too.
Russian President Vladimir Putin holds a meeting with Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu. Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu attended the meeting too. - Sputnik International, 1920, 16.04.2023
The president expressed confidence that defense is yet another important area that strengthens the strategic nature of relations between the two countries.
"We are glad to see you. I know that you have a busy work schedule. I am sure that your visit will be held at the highest level. Welcome to Russia," the president told Defense Minister Li.
He further mentioned the recent visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to Russia, praising it as very productive.
"You arrived in Russia after a visit to our country by our great friend, my friend, the president of the People's Republic of China, Comrade Xi Jinping. I would like to emphasize once again that the visit was very productive," Putin told Li, asking the minister to convey his best wishes to Chairman Xi.
For his part, the Chinese defense minister told the Russian president that he had chosen Russia as the destination of his first foreign trip in order to show how significant the bilateral relations were.
©Sputnik/Pavel Bednyakov/Go to the mediabank
Li then pointed out that the Sino-Russian cooperation contributes greatly to global security, as he emphasized that the relationship between the two nations is stronger than any alliances clinched during the Cold War.
"We have very strong relations. They surpass the military-political alliances of the Cold War era, they are built on the principles of non-alignment, non-confrontation with a third party. They are very stable," the minister elaborated.
The Chinese minister added that the two sides would continue to work for the prosperity of the entire world.
"We stand shoulder to shoulder and work to improve the well-being of our peoples. Taking into account that the economic recovery is very slow... the world is very restless, peace, peaceful relations between countries are in great demand ... Cooperation (with Russia) is developing at all levels and we will continue such cooperation for the development and prosperity of the whole world," he said.
The Chinese defense minister's visit comes less than a month after President Xi's trip to Russia, where he held an informal meeting with Putin. Aside from that, the two presidents held talks in a broad format with the participation of delegations. The two leaders signed a joint statement on a plan to develop key areas of Russian-Chinese economic cooperation until 2030.
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