Russia is committed to the ‘One China’ principle, Russian President Vladimir Putin assured his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping during a meeting on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan on Wednesday.
Noting that Russia has firmly abided by the principle, Putin condemned the “provocations” by the United States in the Taiwan Strait. He vowed to improve Russia-China ties “based on the principle of non-interference in each other’s internal affairs.”
Xi welcomed Russia’s commitment to the ‘One China’ policy and stressed that “Taiwan is part of China.” The Chinese leader reaffirmed Beijing’s opposition to Taiwanese separatist forces and condemned external interference on the issue, referring to the US’ support for Taiwan’s independence. “No country is entitled to act as a judge on the Taiwan question,” Xi asserted.
The international order is in a transitional phase in which two centres of power are emerging—the US and China. In this context, China needs to avoid any scenarios of domestic instability following the pandemic and at the same time face global system bifurcation.
— Velina Tchakarova (@vtchakarova) September 15, 2022
Tensions in the Taiwan Strait escalated after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan last month. Beijing, which had warned Washington against Pelosi’s visit, conducted military drills and fired multiple ballistic missiles over the island. It also suspended a series of cooperation measures with the US.
The US’ support for Taiwan and its opposition to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has thus pushed Putin and Xi even closer together in their joint vision to chart a new anti-Western alliance. In fact, it was their first face-to-face meeting since the war in Ukraine began.
Putin also praised China’s “balanced position” on the Ukraine war. “We understand your questions and your concerns in this regard. During today’s meeting we will certainly explain in detail our position on this issue, although we have spoken about this before now,” the Russian leader said, indicating that China has issues about Russia’s military operation in Ukraine.
Putin tells Xi Jinping that Russia “understands your questions and concerns” about Ukraine. Does that mean… China has some? pic.twitter.com/Zd5XNW7cMD
— max seddon (@maxseddon) September 15, 2022
While Xi did not mention Ukraine in his statement, he stressed that “China will work with Russia to fulfil their responsibilities as major countries and play a leading role in injecting stability into a world of change and disorder.” In this respect, both leaders vowed to deepen cooperation through multilateral fora, especially the SCO.
Putin insisted that the SCO is an “effective organisation” in which countries can cooperate without interfering in each other’s internal affairs. Calling Putin his “old friend,” Xi, too, emphasised that the SCO is a forum that allows Russia and China to maintain their “strategic” partnership.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping met for their first face-to-face talks since the start of the conflict in Ukraine, hailing their strategic ties in defiance of the Westhttps://t.co/eC4BReZpUn pic.twitter.com/UEx72gXfW8
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) September 16, 2022
Reacting to the Chinese and Russian leaders’ meeting, US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Putin was looking forward to the talks with Xi because Russia has been seeking “military assistance” from China for its war in Ukraine. Price affirmed that Washington had warned Beijing that any attempt to assist Moscow would “incur significant costs” for China.
Furthermore, Price noted that Putin’s admission of Chinese concerns about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has made it clear that Beijing is not entirely happy with Moscow. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is “at odds with everything China has purported to believe in over the course of decades now. It is a constant refrain that we’ve heard from China bilaterally, that we’ve heard from China in multilateral settings,” he remarked, referring to China’s stated commitment to global stability.