Beijing and Moscow must strengthen their cooperation, according to the Chinese Foreign Minister

The Chinese minister Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who is visiting Russia, told Russian President Vladimir Putin that Beijing and Moscow must work to strengthen cooperation in the face of a “complex international situation”, Chinese state media reported today.

“The world is moving rapidly towards multipolarity,” Wang Yi observed during his meeting with Putin in St. Petersburg, during which the Russian president accepted an invitation to visit China next month.

“Economic globalization is moving forward despite headwinds, unilateral actions are not sustainable and hegemony are not popular,” the Chinese official added, according to the official Xinhua news agency.

“The two sides should strengthen their strategic, multilateral cooperation, protect their rights and legitimate interests, and develop new efforts to promote the international order in favor of equality and justice,” he also noted.

“Our positions coincide on the emergence of a multipolar world”Putin replied, according to a Kremlin statement.

China and Russia consider themselves strategic allies, often touting their “borderless” partnership and their economic and military cooperation.

There has been an even greater rapprochement between the two countries since the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces, which China has refused to condemn.

The Kremlin has sought to tighten ties with China after its military offensive in Ukraine plunged Moscow into increasing isolation. China, for its part, is seeking to position itself as a neutral side in the war in Ukraine, offering Moscow vital diplomatic and financial aid.