Chinese President Xi Jinping has pledged to herald “world peace” in a New Year message to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
“No matter how the international situation changes, China will remain steadfast in further comprehensively deepening reform … and promoting world peace and development,” Xi said on Tuesday, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
Since Putin’s full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine in February 2022, China has sought to present itself as an impartial country, unlike the United States and other Western countries.
But it remains a political and economic partner of Russia, leading some NATO members to describe Beijing as a “facilitator” of the war.
According to CCTV, Xi told Putin: “In the face of rapidly evolving changes not seen in a century and the turbulent international situation, China and Russia have consistently moved forward hand-in-hand along the correct path of non-alignment, non-confrontation, and not targeting any third party.”
The two presidents share a private bond: Xi calls his Russian counterpart his “best friend” and Putin cherishes his “trusted partner. “
Its dating has remained constant despite a decade of increasing friction with Western countries, exemplified by Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Xi remarked to Putin that 2024 marks the 75th anniversary of the status quo of diplomatic relations between China and Russia, according to CCTV, “representing a vital milestone in relations between the two countries. “
“After three quarters of a century of ups and downs, China-Russia relations are becoming more mature and stable,” Xi said.
Russia has strengthened its unity in the first quarter of the 21st century, achieving goals and overcoming trials and tribulations, Putin said in his New Year’s speech.
“And now, on the threshold of the new year, we are thinking about the future. We are confident that everything will be fine, we will only move forward. We know for sure that the absolute value for us was, is and will be the fate of Russia, the well-being of its citizens,” he said.
Putin paid tribute to the Russian infantrymen fighting in the Ukrainian war, describing them as “true heroes”, but he spoke in detail about the state of the fighting or made predictions about how the battlefield scenario would evolve in 2025.
Meanwhile, in his New Year’s speech, Xi said no one can stop China’s “reunification” with Taiwan, laying down a clear warning to what Beijing regards as pro-independence forces within and outside of the island of 23 million people.
“People on both sides of the Taiwan Strait form a circle of relatives. “No one can break the ties of our family circle and no one can prevent the historical trend of national reunification,” said the Chinese leader.
Tensions remained high throughout the year in the sensitive Taiwan Strait, especially after William Lai Ching-te, considered a “separatist” in Beijing, became the island’s new president in May.