Putin trip steps up co-operation with China

CO-OPERATION BETWEEN Russia and China is at an alltime high, Russian president Vladmir Putin told his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.

Mr Putin spoke during a meeting ahead of a summit in Beijing.

The Russian leader said: “Cooperation with China is one of Russia’s top priorities and it has reached an unprecedented level.”

Mr Xi said the two countries have “always firmly taken the development of relations as a priority direction”.

They have “resolutely supported the other’s core interests ... and jointly, proactively participated in international affairs and global governance,” he said.

Russia and China have responded to the US national security strategy describing them as America’s top adversaries by vowing to further expand their economic, political and military co-operation.

They have also sought to strengthen the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, which meets this weekend.

The visit comes just a month since Mr Putin began his new term in office. He and Mr Xi have met 25 times – five times last year alone, according to Mr Putin’s foreign adviser, Yuri Ushakov.

Following a formal welcoming ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in central Beijing, Mr Putin first with China’s premier Li Keqiang, telling him that Russia-China trade and economic ties have “gained a good tempo, and we are looking for new spheres of co-operation”.

Mr Li said bilateral trade is expected to reach $100 billion (£74 billion) this year and said he was ready to expand cooperation in both traditional and new spheres, including nuclear energy.

Bilateral trade shrank from nearly $100 billion in 2014 to some $60 billion following year due to a sharp depreciation of the Russian currency.