China, Russia pledge to strengthen military cooperation

BEIJING — The Chinese and Russian defence ministers pledged on Monday to deepen cooperation between their two countries' militaries as they met in Beijing.

Moscow and Beijing have forged closer ties since Russia invaded neighbouring Ukraine in February 2022, an alliance that has drawn anxiety in the West as both countries seek to expand their global influence.

China and Russia declared a "no limits" partnership shortly before Moscow launched its attack on Ukraine and have carried out a series of military drills together since.

Chinese defence minister Dong Jun met Russian counterpart Andrei Belousov in Beijing on Monday and called for the two sides to "deepen strategic collaboration" and "continuously advance military relations".

"Under the strong leadership of President Xi Jinping and President (Vladimir) Putin, China-Russia relations have reached an all-time high... serving as a model for major power relations," Dong said, according to Beijing's defence ministry.

Belousov, in turn, said that "friendly relations" between their two leaders "play a key role in strengthening strategic ties", according to Russian news agencies.

Military cooperation between China and Russia, he said, played an important role in "maintaining global and regional stability".

He also said he hoped his talks in Beijing would "help strengthen the Russian-Chinese strategic partnership in the field of defence".

Belousov arrived in Beijing on Monday for talks with China's "military and military-political leadership", according to Moscow.

Putin said in August that Russia's economic and trade links with China were "yielding results" and that the two were working on joint "economic and humanitarian" projects.

Russian and Chinese warships carried out joint drills in the Sea of Japan last month, part of a major naval exercise that Putin said was the largest of its kind for three decades.

China presents itself as a neutral party in the Ukraine war and says it is not sending lethal assistance to either side, unlike the United States and other Western nations.

However, it remains a close political and economic ally of Russia and NATO members have branded Beijing a "decisive enabler" of the war, which it has never condemned.

Putin and Xi declared during a summit last year that ties were "entering a new era".

Xi is set to attend a summit of BRICS leaders in Russia next week, where he is expected to meet Putin again.