As officials from the two countries signed a series of agreements on trade and sports collaboration, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said that “sensational pressure” from the West was pushing Russia-China relations to a “unprecedented high.”
Mishustin made the remarks on Wednesday in Beijing while speaking with Chinese Premier Li Qiang.
The Russian prime minister is the highest-ranking official to travel to Beijing since Moscow’s troops invaded Ukraine last year. He also had a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
His visit comes after Russia and China responded angrily to the Group of Seven nations’ weekend pronouncements that singled both countries out on a variety of topics, including Ukraine.
Chinese customs data show that last year saw a record-high $190 billion in trade between the two countries.
“Today, relations between Russia and China are at an unprecedented high level,” Mishustin told Li after a grand welcome in Beijing.
“They are characterised by mutual respect of each other’s interests, the desire to jointly respond to challenges, which is associated with increased turbulence in the international arena and the pattern of sensational pressure from the collective West,” he said.
Li then praised the “comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between China and Russia in the new era”.
He pointed out that this year’s total bilateral trade had already surpassed $70 billion, an increase of more than 40% compared to the previous year.
“The scale of investment between the two countries is also continuously upgrading,” Li added. “Strategic large-scale projects are steadily advancing.”
Following the meetings, ministers from the two nations signed a number of agreements, including ones on patents, Russian millet exports to China, sports collaboration, and service trade.
Prime minister Alexander Novak, who oversees energy policy, is one of the high-ranking officials accompanying Mishustin.
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SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES
