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Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin agreed to work together as they extended a 20-year-old bilateral agreement on friendship and cooperation to forge closer ties, amid the US and the EU push against both the countries over human rights and a host of other issues.
PTI reported that the two leaders issued a joint statement after their talks via video link, officially announcing the extension of the China-Russia Treaty of Good-Neighbourliness and Friendly Cooperation (TGNFC) signed between the two countries in 2001, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
They held talks amid growing anxiety in Beijing, especially after the June 16 meeting between Putin and US President Joe Biden that Washington is attempting to wean away Moscow out of its close ties with Beijing.
Also Putin-Xi talks took place ahead of the July 1 centenary celebrations of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC), which had a roller coaster relations with the erstwhile Soviet Communist Party before the disintegration of the Soviet Union.
Xi told Putin that China and Russia have injected positive energy into the international community through their close cooperation, as the world is entering a period of turbulence and change and human development is confronted with multiple crises. The two countries have set a good example for a new type of international relations, Xi said.
