Russia and China announced a deep and boundless strategic friendship after
both were mutually hostile to the United States. The announcement was made
in a joint statement by the two presidents, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping,
in Beijing on Friday.
Chinese President Xi Jinping hosted Russian President Vladimir Putin on the
opening day of the Beijing Winter Olympics.
In a joint statement, the two countries affirmed that their new relationship
is superior to any political or military alliance in the Cold War era.
"Friendship between the two countries has no boundaries, no area of
cooperation is 'forbidden'," the joint statement said.
The joint statement also announced plans to cooperate in a number of areas
including aerospace, climate change, artificial intelligence and Internet
control.
The agreement and its symbolic timing at the Olympics hosted in China which
the United States boycotted mark the strongest evidence yet of how the giant
neighbors are strengthening their relationship at a time of deep tension in
their relationship with Washington. Each supports the other at key points at
the heart of the tension.
Moscow and Beijing have also voiced their opposition to the AUKUS alliance
between Australia, Britain and the United States, saying it increases the
danger of an arms race in the region.
China joined Russia in calling for an end to NATO expansion and backed its
demand for security guarantees from the West—an issue at the heart of
Moscow's confrontation with the United States and its allies over Ukraine.
"Both countries expressed concern about the progress of the US plan to
develop a global missile defense and deploy its elements in various regions
of the world, combined with the development of high-precision non-nuclear
weapons capacity for disarming attack weapons and other strategic
objectives," the joint statement said. China.
On the other hand, without mentioning Washington, they criticize the efforts
of certain countries to establish global hegemony, confrontation, and impose
their own democratic standards.
Dmitri Trenin of the Carnegie Moscow Center said the statement marked an
important evolution in relations and brought Sino-Russian interests to the
level of a common front to counter US pressure on Russia and China in
Europe, Asia and globally.
On the technology front, Russia and China said they were ready to strengthen
cooperation in artificial intelligence and information security. They
believe that any attempt to limit their sovereign right to regulate the
national segment of the Internet and ensure their security is unacceptable.
Meanwhile, the state energy giant Russia; Gazprom and Rosneft on Friday
agreed a new gas and oil supply deal with Beijing worth tens of billions of
dollars.
The deal leverages Putin's efforts to diversify Russia's energy exports from
the West, which began shortly after he came to power in 1999.
Since then Russia has become China's main energy supplier and reduced its
dependence on the West for revenue.
The Kremlin said President Putin also discussed the need to expand trading
in national currencies because of the uncertainty surrounding the use of the
dollar.
US President Joe Biden said Russian companies could be cut off from the
ability to trade in dollars as part of sanctions if Russia invaded Ukraine.
Moscow denies such intentions, but has used more than 100,000 troops near
the Ukrainian border to draw attention to the West and press its demands for
security guarantees.
