Chinese President Xi Jinping has backed his Russian colleague Vladimir Putin
by jointly calling for a halt to NATO's plans for expansion and avoiding the
Cold War mentality.
The call comes amid escalating fighting between Moscow and the US-led
military bloc in Eastern Europe. Xi Jinping and Putin met in Beijing on
Friday (4/2/2022) ahead of the opening of the Winter Olympics.
The Kremlin released statements from both sides, calling for dialogue in a
bid to reduce tensions.
"The parties oppose the further expansion of NATO and call on the North
Atlantic Alliance to refrain from ideological approaches since the Cold
War," the statement read.
"It urges NATO to respect the sovereignty, security, interests of other
countries and the diversity of their civilizational and cultural-historical
ways and to deal with the peaceful development of other governments in an
objective and fair manner," the statement continued.
The two countries also stressed the need for cooperation between governments
around the world, given the challenges of fast-paced economic globalization,
political upheaval, and pandemics that continue to threaten millions of
people and burden international security.
The two also called on global leaders to strengthen dialogue and mutual
trust, deepen cooperation, and defend universal human values such as
peace, growth, equality, justice, democracy and freedom.
The meeting between Putin and Xi Jinping, the Chinese leader's first
face-to-face diplomatic interaction since the coronavirus pandemic, comes
amid a series of warnings from Western leaders that Moscow is ready to
launch an invasion of neighboring Ukraine.
The West points to reports of a troop buildup near the common border, as
well as large-scale joint military exercises taking place in neighboring
Belarus.
Moscow has consistently denied that it has any aggressive intentions and has
called for written security guarantees limiting the expansion of NATO, the
US-led military bloc, into Ukraine and Georgia, effectively barring the two
countries from becoming members.
This week, a document leaked to Spanish newspaper El Pais showed that
Washington had formally rejected such an agreement, but had proposed other
measures aimed at increasing military transparency between the two sides.
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Putin and other Russian officials have previously said they could take
unspecified military-technical measures if deemed necessary to ensure
Russia's security.
Ahead of Putin and Xi's talks, Kremlin foreign policy adviser Yury Ushakov
stressed that Russia and China have similar and coincidental positions on
most international issues.
The two countries have stressed the importance of their relationship in
recent months, and in December, Ushakov said that China supported Russia's
efforts to sign a deal with NATO.
Beijing has previously committed to working with Moscow to develop a
financial system that is resistant to sanctions and minimizes dependence on
the US dollar.
Despite signs of increased cooperation between Russia and China, some
analysts have given the impression that the partnership is less integrated
than blocs like NATO, where members have pursued integration in military
matters and intelligence sharing.
Previously, the US had also warned China that it would impose economic
sanctions if Beijing provided assistance to Moscow related to the crisis in
Ukraine.
