Chinese President Xi Jinping held a video meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday. They issued a joint statement and announced to extend the China-Russia Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation. Article 9 of the treaty, which was signed in July 2001, says “When a situation arises in which one of the contracting parties deems that… it is confronted with the threat of aggression, the contracting parties shall immediately hold contacts and consultations in order to eliminate such threats.” Western media outlets often describe China-Russia relations as a “quasi-alliance.” But neither China nor Russia has ever officially accepted such a description. They define their ties as partnership, rather than alliance. They both reiterate that their relations are at the best in history and are a model for intergovernmental relations in the 21th century. The joint statement issued by the two heads of state on Monday included a handful of new content. It says that Russia needs a prosperous and stable China; China needs a strong and successful Russia; and the two countries see each other as a prioritized partner, and they will further deepen collaboration and cooperation in fields of politics, security, military, economic and trade. The joint statement expressed a common stance on arms control and mentioned many related issues, such as criticizing the US withdrawing from a series of related key international treaties and deploying anti-missile systems in the world. The statement also advocates countries to pledge not to be the first to deploy weapons in outer space. Both countries agreed to uphold common values of humanity, including peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy, and freedom. This was the first time for the two heads of state to jointly define common values of all humanity. The two sides have also expressed their opposition to interference in other countries’ domestic affairs under the banner of so-called democracy and human rights, and to unilateral sanctions. For a certain period of time, some political and media elites in Washington have been very interested in driving a wedge between China and Russia. However, what they have hyped has reflected their surprisingly low-level vision as they completely cannot understand the strategic support behind the increasingly strong China-Russia ties. The joint statement issued on Monday noted the two countries’ core diplomatic ideas. For example, a community with shared future for mankind, and the collaboration between the China-initiated Belt and Road Initiative and the Eurasian Economic Union were mentioned. Meanwhile, both countries oppose the moves to stigmatize and politicize others taking advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic and the investigations into virus origins. Besides, China expressed its firm support to Russia’s resolute measures to maintain its development and stability in the long term.
–The Daily Mail-Global Times News Exchange Item
