Russian President Vladimir Putin received China's top diplomat at the Kremlin on Wednesday, who assured him that Beijing is willing to deepen its relationship with Moscow. No other country can influence our relations, Wang Yi told the Russian leader.
Wang made the remarks, reported on Russian state television, days after the United States accused China of planning to deliver weapons to Russia for use in Ukraine.
The Secretary of State of the United States, Antony Blinken, expressed his concern about these plans last weekend. From the Chinese capital, the spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Wang Wenbin, denied the accusations and responded that Washington "is not in a position to make demands on China."
Wang Yi is a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, a position above that of foreign minister.
Wang's visit also comes amid suspense over a possible Chinese peace plan for Ukraine, which is supposed to be made public this week. Wang himself assured last week in the German city of Munich that Kyiv and Moscow should start direct negotiations to reach a political agreement.
Putin responded to his guest by noting that Russian-Chinese relations "stabilize the international situation." The Kremlin chief told Wang that "international relations are complicated today. In this context, China-Russia cooperation is of great importance for the stabilization of the international situation."
Before meeting Putin, Wang met Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow.
During the meeting with Lavrov, Wang pointed out that regardless of "changes in the world situation", Beijing stands by its position of "applying efforts together with Russia for the development of positive trends in relations between the great powers".
He stressed that Sino-Russian relations "maintain a high dynamism in their development" and that he hopes that "new agreements" will be reached.
Likewise, he opted to move towards a multipolar world, which for Russia means without the hegemonic leadership of the United States. "We have always been in favor of multipolarity, and against unilateral and hegemonic actions," Wang added.
