Russia says relations with China foreign policy priority

MOSCOW

Russia will continue promoting "a strategic partnership" with China, which is "an absolute priority of Russia's foreign policy," Secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolay Patrushev said on Tuesday.

Speaking at a meeting in Moscow with China's highest ranked diplomat Wang Yi, Patrushev said relations with China are "self-valuable" and not subject to external conjuncture.

He added that the world is changing, and transformation of international relations into multipolar model meets growing opposition of the West.

"Projects beneficial to an exceptionally narrow group of countries are being promoted to create new military blocs in various regions of the world. The US and its allies are trying to replace the universal norms of international law with the so-called rules-based order," he said.

Patrushev said "all this is being done against Russia and China, as well as to the detriment of developing countries."

Russia stands in solidarity with China's position on territorial issues, including Taiwan, Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong, which are "used by the West to discredit China," he added.

Wang Yi, former Chinese foreign minister and currently director of the Office of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), will also meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Wednesday.

Beijing has not directly supported Moscow's "special military operation" in Ukraine, but has condemned Western sanctions on Russia.

Last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping declared a “no limits” partnership.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelesnkyy on Monday said he fears World War III if China supports Russia in the war which is almost a year old.