Russia & China 'don't aspire' to be in charge of world but other nations do, avers Kremlin

A day after Taiwan warned that Moscow and Beijing ties 'harm' international peace, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that Russia and China do not intend to take the charge of the world, but other countries do show such a tendency. While speaking to the Rossiya-1 TV channel on Sunday, the Kremlin Spokesperson stated, "Actualizing their bilateral relations, it is Russia and China that don’t seek to be in the driver’s seat in the world. We know that other countries do show such a tendency," Peskov said in "Moscow, Kremlin, Putin" programme shown on Sunday.

Peskov further underscored the similarity in the attitudes of Russia and China toward various kinds of provocative actions, "the source of which is the United States". Moscow and Beijing are at one in their assessment of the "inadmissibility of such destabilising behavior," he added.

Jinping & Putin meet at SCO Summit

These remarks came after Russian President Vladimir Putin met his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit held in Samarkand last week. The two leaders met to discuss various issues, and the Mongolian President was also invited to this discussion. The world leaders also took part in a meeting of the Council of the SCO Heads of State.

During the meeting, all the significant issues were discussed, and the Chinese leader emphasized that Beijing was ready to support and actively work with Moscow on providing support on issues that are of key concern. Notably, this was the second in-person meeting for the two leaders this year. Earlier, Putin and Xi had met in February when Putin attended the opening ceremony of the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing.

Russia & China conduct joint patrols in Pacific

Recently, Russia and China also conducted joint military patrols in the Pacific Ocean for a second time. "The mission is designed to strengthen naval cooperation between Russia and China to uphold peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region," said the ministry. The Russian defence ministry confirmed that this joint drill was conducted to monitor the water area as well as to protect the facilities of economic activity between Russia and China. 

Image: AP/Representative