The visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to Russia in March 2023 at the invitation of Russian President Vladimir Putin, will be characterized by friendship, cooperation and peace. Both Presidents, who share a close personal relationship and declared in 2022 that their cooperation has “no limits” and no “forbidden areas,” are intent on reaching new levels of cooperation.
Both countries, world powers and permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, constitute a formidable strategic front to contribute to global peace and development for the benefit of all peoples. The visit will intensify the mutual trust and mutual understanding between the two countries, and strengthen the relations between the peoples of both countries for generations. It will be a trip of friendship, and aims to promote sustained and high-level bilateral relations, in the form of mutually beneficial agreements in various sectors. This is indicative of a new momentum in the development of bilateral relations. Within the parameters of non-alignment, non-confrontation and non-pursuance of third parties, China and Russia have a shared vision of promoting genuine multilateralism, democratizing relations, and constructing a multipolar global architecture that enhances global governance and creates a conducive environment for global development and progress for the benefit of all. The two countries are intent on building a global order that better accommodates their nations’ interests.
China has been committed to UN-centered international system and an international order underpinned by international law, including the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter. In their joint statement during President Putin’s visit to China in February 2023, the two Presidents committed to strengthening collaboration in multilateral platforms to advocate for the prioritization of development issues. Both agreed that the United Nations has the principal coordinating role in international affairs, and both agreed to promote a multipolar international order and the democratization of international affairs, to ensure peace, stability and sustainable development across the world. Chinese strategic foreign policy objectives are to maintain world peace and promote common development.
China’s proposed Global Development Initiative, including participation in the activities of the Group of Friends of the Global Development Initiative under the auspices of the UN has been accepted by Russia. Both countries agreed to accelerate implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In this regard they urged the international community to collaborate on measures for poverty reduction and food security.
China and Russia agreed to intensify their foreign policy coordination, promote genuine multilateralism, strengthen cooperation on multilateral platforms, defend common interests, support the international and regional balance of power, and improve global governance.
China’s economic prowess has ensured that it has contributed to regional and global development, underpinned by mutual respect, mutual benefit and outcomes where all win. The world economy has seen a downslide and China commits to undertake efforts to seek its revitalization. Economic initiatives like the “Belt and Road” Initiative, which will usher in a new era of trade and growth for economies in Asia and beyond, has the capacity to bring about this outcome. China intends to intensify cooperation between the “Belt and Road” Initiative construction and the Eurasian Economic Union. The significance of the Eurasian Economic Union is that is has shown considerable potential for expansion and development and remains a promising platform for economic integration in the region, and it has boosted regional GDP growth rates. It is significant that progress is being made in synergizing the “Belt and Road” cooperation with the Eurasia Economic Union. In a joint statement during President Putin’s visit to China in February 2023, both Presidents have undertaken to connect the development plans for the Eurasian Economic Union and the Belt and Road Initiative to promote greater interconnectedness between the Asia Pacific and Eurasian regions. They reaffirmed their focus on building the Greater Eurasian Partnership with the aim of advancing the development of regional associations, bilateral and multilateral integration processes, to benefit of the peoples on the Eurasian continent. Both countries confirmed their intent to establish a more prosperous and just world, and to build international relations of a new type characterized by stability and prosperity. They called for the establishment of a new kind of relationships between world powers on the basis of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and mutually beneficial cooperation.