Just hours after Donald Trump was sworn in as the 47th the President of the United States, Chinese President Xi Jinping held a meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin via a video link on Tuesday, as reported Chinese national state broadcaster CCTV.
This was the first interaction of the leaders from both the nations in the year 2025, which proposed to enhance bilateral relations between them.
Putin said that Russia and China were strengthening ties on the basis of friendship, mutual trust and support despite external pressures. Xi also assured the Russian leader that he was ready to work with his Russian counterpart to elevate bilateral ties between the two countries to new heights in 2025.
“I agree with you that cooperation between Moscow and Beijing is based on a broad commonality of national interests and a convergence of views on what relations between major powers should be,” Reuters quoted Putin as saying to Xi. He added, “We build our ties on the basis of friendship, mutual trust and support, equality and mutual benefit. These connections are self-sufficient, independent of domestic political factors and the current global situation.”
“We will respond to uncertainties in the external environment with the stability and resilience of China-Russia relations, jointly promote the development and revitalisation of the two countries and safeguard international fairness and justice,” Xi said, according to CCTV.
Xi also reflected on the history of World War II, and said that Beijing would continue to work with Moscow to uphold a multipolar international system and safeguard the hard-won achievements of the war, “secured through the blood and lives of millions”, and defend the rights of the two countries as founding and permanent members of the UN Security Council, as reported by South China Morning Post.
Moscow and Beijing have enhanced military and trade ties since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, prompting alarm in the United States, which views both nations as major threats to global stability. Donald Trump has also threatened to impose tariffs and other measures against China in his second term.
Earlier, on December 31, 2024, the two leaders exchanged New Year greetings.
