Chinese President Xi Jinping told his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, during a telephone conversation today that “all parties must work to resolve the crisis in Ukraine in a responsible manner,” say the Chinese channel CCTV and the news agency. Xinhua. The Chinese leader also confirmed his country’s willingness to help end the conflict in Ukraine and stressed that Beijing “is following an independent policy” in relation to kyiv.
The Bloomberg agency, for its part, also citing Chinese state television, reported that Xi told Putin that “China would continue to support Russia on key issues of sovereignty and security”, but in this section he did not specifically mention Ukraine or neither to Taiwan.
The Kremlin, for its part, through its website, released a statement underlining that the Russian and Chinese presidents “confirmed that Russia and China, as they have been doing until now, act from a common or very close position, defend consistent with the fundamental principles of International Law and seek to build a truly multipolar and fair international system.
Putin in particular, the note continues, “expounded his fundamental assessments of the situation in Ukraine and the tasks to be solved during the special military operation. The Chinese president stressed the legitimacy of actions taken by Russia to protect core national interests in the face of challenges to its security created by external forces.” The statement also shows that the conversation “was developed in a traditionally warm and friendly manner.” The Kremlin chief stressed, in relation to Taiwan and Hong Kong, that he opposes any force interfering in China’s internal affairs.
This has been the second telephone contact of both leaders since Russia began the invasion of Ukraine on February 24. The first took place the day after the beginning of the military intervention. China has refused from the beginning to condemn Russia’s actions or call them an invasion, but has always called for a negotiated solution.
China and Russia have grown closer in recent years, and in February Putin and Xi signed a far-reaching strategic partnership aimed at countering US influence. They proclaimed that their countries “will not have ‘forbidden’ areas of cooperation” while the Russian president supported his interlocutor in claiming Taiwan. On June 10, Russia and China opened a new cross-border bridge in the Far East that they hope will further boost trade. Moscow is struggling to deal with sweeping Western sanctions imposed over the years after the Ukrainian crisis erupted in 2014.
