Russia and China have agreed to discuss ways to deepen security co-operation across Europe and Asia to counter attempts by the United States to impose its will on the region, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said after talks in Beijing.
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The two authoritarian states declared a "no limits" partnership in February 2022 when President Vladimir Putin visited Beijing just days before he sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine, triggering the deadliest land war in Europe since World War II.
Lavrov, after talks with Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, said Putin had suggested strengthening Eurasian security and that China and Russia had agreed to "start a dialogue with the involvement of our other like-minded people on this issue".
"For a long time, there was a Euro-Atlantic security structure in the form of NATO, of course, as well as the OSCE, but it is striking itself out from the list of relevant structures within which it is possible to conduct meaningful negotiations and agree on something based on a balance of interests," Lavrov said on Tuesday.
The two countries should oppose "hegemonism" and "any 'small circle' that engages in bloc confrontation", said Wang, China's top diplomat.
"NATO should not extend its hand to our common homeland," he said.
Lavrov met Chinese President Xi Jinping after the meeting with Wang, state media said.
The United States casts China as its biggest competitor and Russia as its biggest nation-state threat while US President Joe Biden argues this century will be defined by an existential contest between democracies and autocracies.
Putin and Xi share a broad world view, which sees the West as decadent and in decline, just as China challenges US supremacy in everything from quantum computing and synthetic biology to espionage and hard military power.
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Monday she had difficult conversations with Chinese officials during her visit on its co-operation with Moscow.
Yellen warned of "significant consequences" for any Chinese companies supporting Russia's war in Ukraine.
Yellen also said in these meetings that the US would not rule out tariffs on clean energy imports from China to protect its industry.
Russia and China should "jointly oppose unilateralism and protectionism" and "work together to maintain the stability of international industry and supply chains", Wang said.
China has strengthened trade and military ties with Russia in recent years as the United States and its allies imposed sanctions on both, but particularly Moscow for the invasion of Ukraine.
Australian Associated Press
