China’s Wang Yi says “thanks to the efforts” of Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russia’s Vladimir Putin, the relationship between the two countries is developing “in a highly dynamic way”.
“Russia and China remain determined and committed to a multi-polar world with no hegemonies,” he tells the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov.
Wang Yi also says he will work to “strengthen and deepen” relations between Moscow and Beijing and he expects new agreements to be reached today.
What support is China giving Russia?
As we have been reporting one of the key diplomatic meetings happening today is between China and Russia.
China’s most senior diplomat, Wang Yi, has already met the Kremlin’s security chief with further meetings planned with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and even potentially Vladimir Putin.
Due to various sanctions imposed on Russia by Western countries, China has increasingly become an important trading partner for Russia as you’ll see from the graph below.
The US is going one step further to suggest Beijing is considering supplying weapons and ammunition to Russia, allegations which China strongly denies.