China-Russia military alliance, how Xi and Putin flirt
Putin met with the new Chinese defense minister Li Shangfu and both hailed the military cooperation between the two nations, advocating a "limitless" partnership.
China and Russia ready to strengthen military collaboration.
Yesterday, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with the new Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu. Moscow and Beijing are cooperating in the military sector and holding joint exercises, Putin said on the occasion of Li Shangfu's trip to Moscow, the first abroad in the role, where he said that the ties between the countries "exceed political-military alliances of the Cold War era”.
Li's trip to Russia, which runs until April 19, comes weeks after an official visit to Moscow by Chinese leader Xi Jinping last month. This is the latest sign of "close ties between Moscow and Beijing" comments Bloomberg .
On the other hand, "mutual military trust between the two countries has increasingly consolidated with substantial progress in cooperation" writes China Daily today.
In the background, the war in Ukraine and the belief of European leaders that Chinese President Xi can use his relationship with Putin to push for peace. At the same time, according to a senior official in Kiev, Ukrainian forces are finding an increasing number of Chinese-sourced components in Russian weapons used in Ukraine, press reports said. However Beijing has repeatedly denied sending military equipment to Russia. China will not sell weapons to any side involved in the war in Ukraine, Foreign Minister Qin Gang reiterated during a press conference with her German counterpart Annalena Baerbock on April 14.
All the details.
THE MEETING BETWEEN BEIJING'S DEFENSE MINISTER AND PUTIN
"China is willing to work together with Russia to make new contributions to maintaining global and regional security and stability," Li said, according to media reports.
“This is my first overseas visit since I took over as China's defense minister. I specifically chose Russia for this in order to underline the special nature and strategic importance of our bilateral ties,” added the Beijing Defense Minister. After the meeting, which was also attended by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, Putin and Li hailed the military cooperation between the two nations, which they described as a "limitless" partnership.
JOINT MILITARY EXERCISES
When meeting with Li on Sunday, Putin called Xi's recent visit to Russia "very productive" and said relations between Russia and China were developing well in all areas, including military departments, according to a Kremlin statement.
"We are actively working through our military departments, regularly exchange useful information, work together in the field of military-technical cooperation and hold joint exercises," the Russian president said. The exercises, he added, were held in the Far East as well as in Europe and involved land, naval and air forces.
"Undoubtedly, this is another crucial area that reinforces the extremely trusting and strategic nature of our relationship," Putin said.
MUTUAL MILITARY TRUST BETWEEN CHINA AND RUSSIA
The joint statement on deepening the comprehensive strategic coordination partnership for the new era between China and Russia, released on March 22, said that the two sides will regularly hold joint sea and air patrols, joint military exercises and training, strengthen various exchanges and cooperation between the two armies within the framework of existing bilateral mechanisms and further deepen mutual military trust, recalls the Global Times .
“In 2013, 2018 and 2023, the Chinese Defense Minister chose Russia as the destination for his first visit after taking a position, which also witnessed the continuous improvement of the China-Russia comprehensive strategic coordination partnership. Being each other's closest neighbors, the two countries' defense exchanges are of significant importance for the maintenance of mutual trust in matters of security and mutual political trust and normal relations with neighboring countries. Times , one of China's most popular and often controversial newspapers.
“The China-Russia relationship is not an alliance, it is not a confrontation and it does not target third parties. We support this principle to develop friendly relations with all countries,” added the Chinese tabloid.
NO ARMS SALES FROM CHINA IN THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR
Meanwhile, the United States and its allies have repeatedly raised concerns that China was considering sending lethal aid to the Kremlin's war effort, a claim Beijing has denied.
Responding to Western fears and suspicions about possible military assistance to Russia, Foreign Minister Qin Gang said Beijing wants to be neutral during a news conference with German counterpart Annalena Baerbock in Beijing on April 14. Qin, the most senior Beijing official to make such an explicit statement on arms sales to Russia, added that China will also regulate the export of goods with civilian and military dual use: “On the export of military items, let us adopt a prudent and responsible attitude”. Baerbock said during the joint press conference that Xi's recent visit to Moscow indicates that no country has greater influence over Russia than China.
His visit followed a joint trip by French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, in which Ukraine was high on the agenda.
NEW CHINESE DEFENSE MINISTER SANCTIONED BY THE USA
Finally, it is worth mentioning, as Reuters recalls, that in 2018 the United States imposed sanctions on China's newly appointed Defense Minister Li, a general and veteran of China's military modernization drive, for transactions with the controlled arms exporter from the Russian state Rosoboronexport, when he headed the equipment development department of the Chinese army.
Those transactions included Russia's delivery of Su-35 fighter jets to China in 2017 and equipment related to the S-400 surface-to-air missile system in 2018, according to the US State Department.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/alleanza-militare-cina-russia/ on Mon, 17 Apr 2023 10:18:31 +0000.