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China-Russia relations
ChinaDiplomacy

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russia’s Vladimir Putin to meet again in July to build on Beijing visit: Lavrov

  • Foreign ministers Wang Yi and Sergey Lavrov hold talks on the sidelines of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation; vow to expand ties
  • Beijing and Moscow should ‘maintain security and stability in the common Chinese-Russian neighbourhood’, Wang says

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Russian President Vladimir Putin, who visited China on May 16, and Chinese President Xi Jinping vowed to build even closer ties in energy and finance sectors. Photo: EPA-EFE
Laura Zhou
Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Kazakhstan in July, Russia’s top diplomat said during a meeting with China’s foreign minister on Monday.
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It will be the second meeting between the top leaders of China and Russia in about two months, after Xi hosted Putin in a state visit in China, both vowing to expand political, diplomatic, economic and military ties amid increasing pressure from the West.

“Our schedule of contacts is very, very intensive. We look forward to welcoming you, Mr Minister, dear friend, at a session of the Brics foreign ministers in Nizhny Novgorod [in Russia] in less than a month. Our leaders will meet during an SCO summit here in Astana in July,” Sergey Lavrov said in a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, according to the Russian Interfax news agency.

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China and Russia are founding members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a regional political, economic and security grouping set up in 2001 by China, Russia and four former Soviet Central Asian states. In 2017, India and Pakistan became state members and last year Iran gained full membership.
Speaking on the sidelines of the SCO foreign ministers’ meeting on Monday, Wang told Lavrov that China and Russia should ramp up support for each other and increase joint efforts to ensure stability in their shared region.

“The two sides should prepare for bilateral engagement in the course of the year, continue to increase mutual support, stabilise the fundamentals of cooperation and maintain security and stability in the common Chinese-Russian neighbourhood,” Wang said, according to China’s foreign ministry.

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Wang said a close-knit SCO “meets not only in the common interests of its member states but also goes along with the trend of multi-polarisation in the world”.

“China is willing to work closely with Russia and other member states to keep the SCO on a steady course, jointly safeguard the overall situation of regional security, stability and development, and promote the development of global governance in a more just and reasonable direction.”

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