Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged to announce “world peace” in a New Year’s message to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
“Regardless of the evolution of the external situation, China will remain determined to further deepen its reforms . . . and to promote peace and progress in the world,” Xi said Tuesday, according to state broadcaster CCTV. .
Since Putin’s full-scale invasion of neighbouring Ukraine in February 2022, China has sought to present itself as a neutral party – unlike the United States and other Western nations.
But it remains a political and economic partner of Russia, leading some NATO members to call Beijing a “facilitator” of the war.
According to CCTV, Xi told Putin: “In the face of immediate adjustments unprecedented in a century and the turbulent foreign situation, China and Russia have a complex hand on the right path of non-alignment, non-alignment, alignment. confrontation, and no directed at no 3rd party.
The two presidents share a strong personal bond with Xi calling his Russian counterpart his “best friend” and Putin cherishing his “reliable partner”.
Its dating has remained constant despite a decade of increasing friction with Western countries, exemplified by Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Xi stressed to Putin that 2024 marks the 75th anniversary of the status quo of diplomatic relations between China and Russia, according to CCTV, “representing a vital milestone in relations between the two countries. “
“After three-quarters of a century of ups and downs, China-Russia relations have become increasingly mature and stable,” Xi said.
Russia strengthened its unity in the first quarter of the 21st century, achieving goals and overcoming trials and tribulations, Putin said in his New Year’s speech.
“And now, as we enter the new year, we think about the future. We are sure that everything will be fine, we will move forward. We know for sure that the absolute price for us was, is and will be the fate of Russia, the well-being of its citizens,” he said.
Putin paid tribute to the Russian infantrymen fighting in the Ukraine war, describing them as “true heroes,” but spoke in detail about the state of the fighting or made predictions about how the battlefield scenario would expand in 2025.
Meanwhile, in his New Year’s speech, Xi said no one can stop China’s “reunification” with Taiwan, laying down a clear warning to what Beijing regards as pro-independence forces within and outside of the island of 23 million people.
“People on both sides of the Taiwan Strait form a circle of relatives. “No one can break the ties of our family circle and no one can prevent the historical trend of national reunification,” said the Chinese leader.
Tensions have remained high throughout the year in the sensitive Taiwan Strait, especially after William Lai Ching-te, deemed a “separatist” by Beijing, became the island’s latest president in May.