After Biden-Xi call, Russia says cooperation with China will ‘get stronger’

Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov on Saturday claimed that his country’s ties with China would only grow stronger with time, and blamed the West for undermining the international system.

“This [Russia-China] cooperation will get stronger, because at a time when the West is blatantly undermining all the foundations on which the international system is based, of course we – as two great powers – need to think how to carry on in this world,” Lavrov was quoted as saying by Russian media outlet Interfax.

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The Russian foreign minister’s comments come a day after US President Joe Biden held a video conference with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to discuss bilateral relations and the ongoing war in Ukraine, wherein the Chinese president said that military conflicts between nation-states are “in no-one’s interest.”

“State-to-state relations cannot go to the stage of military hostilities. Peace and security are the most valued treasures of the international community,” President Xi Jinping reportedly told President Biden during the call, as per Chinese state media CCTV.

However, President Xi also warned the US to handle the Taiwan situation properly to avoid a deterioration of ties between Beijing and Washington, and added that Western sanctions only served to hurt “ordinary people.”

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Although the ongoing conflict in Ukraine is nearing a month now, China has thus far refrained from calling Russian military actions an “invasion,” sparking fears among Western countries that Beijing could be looking to aid Russia in its war on Ukraine.

However, China’s stance on Ukraine seems to be rather ambiguous, as Beijing has also somewhat voiced support for Ukraine’s sovereignty, and recently also announced a 5 million yuan ($786,000) aid package to help people affected by the ongoing war in Ukraine, the first such package announced by China since the beginning of the invasion on February 24.