BEIJING: Chines Prime Minister Premier Li Qiang on Wednesday hailed the “strategic cooperative partnership” between Beijing and Moscow as he hosted Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin with the two sides expected to sign several infrastructure economic deals.
In recent years, the two countries have ramped up diplomatic and economic cooperation and grown closer since Russia invaded Ukraine despite the insistence of China on being neutral in that conflict.
PM Mikhail Mishustin reached China to attend a business forum in Shanghai on Tuesday before meeting President Xi Jinping in Beijing.
“Under the strategic leadership of our two country heads, the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between Russia and China in the new era has always been maintained at a top level,” Li told Mishustin after a grand welcoming ceremony outside Beijing’s Great Hall of the People on Wednesday.
“I believe, your trip to China this time will leave a deep impression.”
China is the largest trading partner with Russia, with trade reaching a record $190 billion the previous year, according to Chinese customs data. And Li noted Wednesday that bilateral trade had already reached $70 billion this year.
He said, “This is a year-on-year increase of more than 40 percent. The scale of investment between the two nations is also continuously upgrading. “Strategic large-scale projects are steadily advancing,” Li added.
China’s upper hand
Mishutin is accompanied by several top officials, including Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, who handles energy policy.
Last year, China became Russia’s top energy customer as Moscow’s gas exports plummeted due to a flurry of sanctions by the West over the invasion of Ukraine.
According to Russian state media, Novak told Tuesday’s forum in Shanghai that Russian energy supplies to China would increase by 40 per cent year-on-year in 2023.
