China wants to “strengthen strategic cooperation” with Russia

Beijing hears “strengthen strategic cooperation” with Moscow, declared Tuesday, April 9, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, during a meeting with the head of Russian diplomacy Sergei Lavrov. He arrived in China on Monday for a two-day official visit. “Beijing and Moscow will continue to strengthen strategic cooperation on the global stage and provide each other with strong support”said the Chinese minister, according to the Russian news agency RIA Novosti. “China will support Russia’s stable development under Putin’s leadership”added Wang Yi, according to the same source.

Sergei Lavrov, for his part, thanked Beijing for the “support” brought to Vladimir Putin, after his recent re-election, according to a video published by the Russian media Izvestia on Telegram. The Chinese president “Xi Jinping (…) was among the first to send congratulations to President-elect Putin, and we are grateful to our Chinese friends for this support”, declared the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs to his counterpart, according to this source. The Russian president was largely re-elected for a fifth term on March 17, obtaining 87.28% of the vote. The investigative site Meduza reported a rigged vote: of the 76 million ballots in favor of Vladimir Putin, at least 22 million are fake, according to this media outlet exiled in Latvia. No rival of the Russian autocrat had been able to present himself.