Russia and China - Great Power Axis Shifts as Two Countries Begin Forging Alliance
The events in Syria and their effect on the international relations were discussed in Beijing today. There, the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met with China's leader Xi Jinping and its Foreign Minister Wang Yi. The negotiations preceded an important event, the meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the SCO countries.
Our correspondent Anastasia Sakhovskaya will tell us about Russia's and China's positions.
Hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder, the Russian-Chinese relationship is both countries' wealth. That is how Xi Jinping greeted Sergey Lavrov. This close bilateral connection is a guarantee of global security. Together, the countries must defend international law, which is being blatantly violated right now for the whole world to see. Frontier justice and provocation: the US and its allies deliberately struck Syria in the attempts to undermine the peaceful process, not the made-up chemical weapons bases. How else can this this missile-bomb hysteria be explained, which broke out at a turning point of the war? There is also the 'staged show,' as Lavrov has called the video with the alleged chemical attack victims. Despite the fact that the actors have already intervened, the OPCW experts are still not admitted to the site.
Sergey Lavrov, Russia's Foreign Minister: "Our next task is to make sure that the OPCW experts could finish their work without giving in to the outside pressure".
The events in Syria must return to the international law. China, just like Russia, feels very negative about the current events.
Wang Yi, China's Foreign Minister: "China has always been against using military force in international relations. Any compulsory measures, especially the military ones, must be authorized by the UN Security Council. Russia has already put in great efforts, achieving positive results".
It's unacceptable to use force to resolve such crises. According to Lavrov, this is understood even by the countries that supported the illegitimate attack on Syria. However, we should expect new provocations. The government residence in Diaoyutai was selected for the Beijing meeting. This where VIP guests are received. The Russian-Chinese relationship is on the highest level right now. It's obvious that with such close all-round political and economic contacts the negotiation were supposed to be very intense. However, the topics that were discussed went far beyond the bilateral relationship and the regional situation. Perhaps, the US unilateral exit from the Iran Nuclear Deal will dash the entire world's efforts.
Sergey Lavrov, Russia's Foreign Minister: "Such negotiations are not up for revision. Otherwise, it will be an attempt to revise one of the greatest recent achievements of global diplomacy".
"Our countries' common stance is the key to global stability" — these are Sergey Lavrov's words and the keynote of Minister of Defense Sergey Shoygu who's also meeting China's leader Xi Jinping in Beijing today. The sides have agreed that the SCO summit will contribute a lot to increasing security in the region and in the world. It's scheduled for June in China.
Tomorrow, Sergey Shoygu and Sergey Lavrov will meet with their SCO colleagues. Vladimir Putin's state visit to PRC and his first meeting with Xi Jinping in 2018 are scheduled for the same time. This will be a political event of the year in the relations between our countries.
Anastasia Sakhovskaya, Mikhail Artyukhin, Vesti's Beijing Bureau.