During a meeting on the sidelines of the Group of 20 (G20) Summit in Bali, Russian Foreign Minister (FM) Sergey Lavrov briefed his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on the “progress” of the “special military operation in Ukraine,” noting that the goal remains “demilitarising and denazifying Ukraine.”
Russian state-owned news agency TASS reported that during the meeting that paid “special attention…to the situation in and around Ukraine,” Lavrov briefed Wang “on the implementation of the main goals of the Russian Armed Forces’ special military operation aimed at protecting civilians in Donbass.” The pair exchanged views “on the West’s activities” with regard to Ukraine, and agreed that “introducing unilateral sanctions in circumvention of the UN [United Nations] was unacceptable.”
They also noted that both sides have continued to “strengthen strategic interaction amid a difficult geopolitical situation, taking the same or similar positions on the vast majority of issues under discussion.” To this end, both leaders agreed “to continue deepening foreign policy coordination.”
Despite the suppressing course of the US and the West, Russia and China continue practical interaction, Lavrov said Wang Yi at the G20. pic.twitter.com/dvYi1sABYX
— srb news (@srbnews0) July 8, 2022
For his part, Wang said that it is “the shared aspiration of developing countries to oppose hegemony, bullying and unilateralism.” Wang added that the reality of current international politics calls for “reflection.”
Notably, they pledged to boost bilateral cooperation despite continued efforts by the United States’ (US) to contain the two countries. “We continue to increase the scope and range of practical interaction amid the strategic policy aimed at containing the development of both our countries that the United States and its satellites pursue,” Lavrov said on Thursday.
The Russian FM further noted that Moscow and Beijing’s “position” is gaining more support among other countries. “In contrast to the openly aggressive policy of the West who seeks to maintain its privileged position and dominance in global affairs, our stance is gaining increasing support and appreciation among participants in international relations,” he said. Similarly, Wang said he believed that “as time goes by, more and more countries will have a clearer view of this and make the right choice.”
Lavrov concluded by hailing the “enormous potential” of the “internal reserves of Russia-China relations” and declared that the two allies “will carry on with the substantive development of new forms of cooperation, independent from external factors.”
#China and #Russia overcame obstacles and pushed forward cooperation in various fields, showing strong resilience and strategic determination in bilateral ties, Chinese FM Wang Yi said while meeting with Russian FM Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of G20. pic.twitter.com/UOA2nwJrq9
— Zhang Meifang张美芳 (@CGMeifangZhang) July 8, 2022
The meeting comes against the backdrop of US Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns chiding Beijing for censoring remarks made by US officials and broadcasting Russian propaganda instead. China “ought to allow the Chinese people to see what American leaders say, as the American people hear what Chinese leaders say,” Burns said, and shared screenshots of the social media posts censored by Beijing. One of the recently censored posts included a statement by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, wherein Washington criticised China for eroding “democratic participation, fundamental freedoms, and an independent media” in the semi-autonomous region of Hong Kong.
Burns also urged China to stop echoing “Russian propaganda” about NATO being behind the Ukraine war.
Responding to the criticism, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Alexey Zaitsev said on Wednesday that US officials “regularly criticise Beijing in the context of its expanding interaction with Moscow.” “They are openly threatening to punish China for cooperating with Russian economic operators… They are exerting serious pressure on China, and this pressure often assumes brazen forms. It appears that those pressuring China are forgetting that they are speaking with one of the modern world’s great powers,” he said. The spokesperson further declared that the US’ “tactics are doomed to failure.” “Relations with third-party countries, including those with the United States, have no serious impact on the expanding cooperation between Russia and the People’s Republic of China,” Zaitsev remarked.
The US has accused China of supporting Russia’s actions in Ukraine since the onset of its invasion. Last month, a US state department spokesperson slammed China for supporting Russian propaganda on the invasion of Ukraine following a phone call between Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. “Nations that side with Vladimir Putin will inevitably find themselves on the wrong side of history,” the spokesperson asserted, adding that Washington continues to keep a close eye on Beijing’s engagements with Moscow.
Meanwhile, Blinken is set to hold bilateral talks with Wang on Saturday.