China’s defence minister praises Putin for ‘promoting world peace’
- A clip appears to show Li Shangfu reading prepared remarks in a meeting with Putin and Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu
- Shangfu called Putin ‘an extraordinary state leader’
China’s defense minister has congratulated Russian President Vladimir Putin for ‘promoting world peace,’ highlighting the close bond between the two nations more than a year after the war broke out in Ukraine.
A clip posted on the Chinese company NetEase Inc.’s short-video platform appears to show Li Shangfu reading prepared remarks in a meeting with Putin and Russia’s defense minister Sergei Shoigu on Sunday.
Shangfu called Putin ‘an extraordinary state leader,’ noting his ‘important contributions to promoting world peace and development’.
His trip to Russia is the first by a Chinese defense minister since the war began.
The comments sit in stark contrast to the line taken by the US and its allies, which have implemented sweeping sanctions on Russia as they look to isolate Putin.
Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with Chinese Defence Minister Li Shangfu during a meeting in Moscow, Russia, April 16, 2023
Ukrainian soldiers of the 80th brigade firing artillery in the direction of Bakhmut as the Russia-Ukraine war continues in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine on April 13, 2023.
Top diplomats from the Group of Seven leading industrial nations today criticised ‘Russian aggression’ and vowed to continue ‘supporting Ukraine as long as it takes’.
The remarks were not included in Chinese state media’s reporting on the meeting or in the official Kremlin readout.
China has been Russia’s biggest supporter since the start of the invasion on February 24 last year.
China’s President Xi Jinping visited Moscow in March and has spoken to Putin numerous times on the phone over the past year.
Xi said ‘China highly values the relationship with Russia’ during his visit.
In February, China presented a 12-point position paper on the war, which includes a call for dialogue and respect for all countries’ territorial sovereignty.
In the 12-point plan, Beijing called for an end to Western sanctions, negotiations that would likely see Ukraine ceding territory, a NATO pull-back from its eastern borders, and reconstruction efforts that would likely benefit Chinese contractors.
Its call for a cease-fire was met with doubt from Kyiv, the US and Ukraine’s other supporters.
Xi has not held talks with Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelensky since the start of the war, though there were reports around the time of Xi’s state visit to Moscow that a call is planned.
During the meeting in Moscow on Tuesday, the two sides reaffirmed their support for each other in safeguarding their main interests, and resolutely opposed interference in internal affairs by external forces, according to a statement posted on China’s defense ministry website.
In a meeting with Shangfu on Sunday, Putin noted the exchange of intelligence and joint maneuvers in the Far East and Europe, the Interfax news service reported.
Shangfu said China was willing to ‘further strengthen strategic communication between the two militaries’ according to state broadcaster China Central Television.
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chinese Defence Minister Li Shangfu attend a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, Russia, April 16, 2023
Ukrainian artillery fires towards the frontline during heavy fighting amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, near Bakhmut, Ukraine, April 13, 2023
Shangfu said China was prepared to bolster multilateral coordination and cooperation with Russia, according to state-run CCTV news.
‘China is willing to work with Russia to make new contributions to the maintenance of world and regional security and stability,’ Li said, according to the report.
He said ties between China and Russia ‘surpass the military-political alliances of the cold war era’, in translated remarks broadcast on Russian TV.
‘This is my first overseas visit since taking over as China’s defence minister. I specifically chose Russia for this in order to emphasise the special nature and strategic importance of our bilateral ties,’ Li said.
After the meeting, also attended by Shoigu, Putin and Shangfu spoke of the military cooperation between the two nations, which have declared a ‘no limits’ partnership.
Video footage of the meeting showed Putin shaking hands with Li and then sitting down at a table.
‘We are working actively through our military departments, regularly exchange useful information, work together in the field of military-technical cooperation, and hold joint exercises,’ Putin said.
He said the exercises had been held in the Far East as well as Europe and spanned ground, naval and air forces.
‘Undoubtedly, this is another crucial area that strengthens the extremely trusting, strategic nature of our relations,’ Putin said.
Shangfu’s trip follows last month’s three-day state visit to the Russian capital by Chinese leader Xi Jinping, reflecting China’s strengthening engagement with Russia.
Moscow and Beijing have closely aligned their policies in attempt to reshape the world order to diminish the influence of the United States and its Western allies.
China has refused to criticize Russia’s actions in Ukraine and blamed the US and NATO for provoking Moscow.
Xi’s visit to Moscow gave a strong political boost to Putin, sending a message to Western leaders that their efforts to isolate Russia have fallen short.
Pictured: Chinese leader Xi Jinping (file Photo). Shangfu’s trip follows last month’s three-day state visit to the Russian capital by Xi, reflecting China’s strengthening engagement with Russia
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu meet with Chinese Defence Minister Li Shangfu at the Kremlin in Moscow on April 16, 2023.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, speaks to China’s Defense Minister Gen. Li Shangfu, left, and Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Sunday, April 16, 2023
After the talks, Putin and Xi issued joint declarations pledging to further bolster their ‘strategic cooperation,’ develop cooperation in energy, high-tech industries and other spheres and expand the use of their currencies in mutual trade to reduce dependence on the West.
After more than a year of fighting in Ukraine and bruising Western sanctions, Russia’s dependence on China has increased significantly. Facing Western restrictions on its oil, gas and other exports, Russia has shifted its energy flows to China and sharply expanded other exports, resulting in a 30 per cent hike in bilateral trade.
Last month, Putin and Xi also vowed to further develop military cooperation between Moscow and Beijing and conduct more joint sea and air patrols.
However, there was no mention of any prospective Chinese weapons supplies to Russia that the U.S. and other Western allies feared, and the Chinese foreign minister reaffirmed Friday that Beijing wouldn’t sell weapons to either side in the conflict in Ukraine.
China’s defense minister on Monday toured the top Russian military academy on a visit to the Russian capital that underscored the increasingly close ties between Moscow and Beijing amid the fighting in Ukraine.
The Kremlin said Putin on Monday had attended a military command meeting in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region and visited a national guard headquarters in eastern Luhansk.
Putin heard reports from commanders of the airborne forces and the Dnieper army group as well as other senior officers who briefed him on the situation in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions in the south.
Neither Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu nor Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov joined Putin on his trip as a security precaution, the Kremlin said.
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chinese Defence Minister Li Shangfu attend a meeting in Moscow, Russia on April 18, 2023
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu (C-R) and Chinese Defense Minister Gen. Li Shangfu (C-L) attending a meeting in Moscow, Russia, 18 April 2023
A senior Ukrainian presidential aide, Mykhailo Podolyak, took to Twitter to mock Putin’s trip as a ‘special tour’ of the mass murders’ author in the occupied and ruined territories to enjoy the crimes of his minions for the last time’.
Kyiv and the West accuse Russian forces of committing war crimes in occupied Ukrainian territory, which Moscow denies.
Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk and Donetsk are the four regions that Putin proclaimed annexed last September following what Ukraine said were sham referendums. Russian forces only partly control the four regions.
Russian troops retreated from Kherson city, the regional capital, last November, and have been reinforcing their positions on the opposite bank of the Dnipro River in anticipation of a Ukrainian counteroffensive this spring.
While numerous Western leaders have made their way to Kyiv for talks with President Zelenskiy since Russian forces invaded 14 months ago, Putin has rarely visited parts of Ukraine under Russian control.
Last month, he visited Crimea – annexed by Russia in 2014 – and the southeastern city of Mariupol in Donetsk region.
A Russian winter offensive failed to make much progress and its troops have been bogged down in a series of battles in the east and south, where advances have been incremental and come at a huge cost to both sides.
Fighting has raged in and around Bakhmut in Donetsk region for months, with Ukrainian forces holding out despite regular claims by Russia to have taken the city.
‘Currently, the enemy is increasing the activity of heavy artillery and the number of air strikes, turning the city into ruins,’ the commander of Ukraine’s ground forces, General Oleksandr Syrskyi, said on Tuesday.
Chinese Defence Minister Li Shangfu signs a guest book as he visits the Military Academy of the General Staff of Russia’s Armed Forces in Moscow, Russia, April 17, 2023
Bakhmut’s capture could provide a stepping stone for Russia to advance on two bigger cities it has long coveted in the Donetsk region – Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.
The head of the Wagner mercenary group, which has spearheaded Russia’s attempt to take Bakhmut, said this month that its fighters controlled more than 80 per cent of the city. Ukraine’s military has denied this.
Russia says its ‘special military operation’ in Ukraine was necessary to protect its security against what it sees as a hostile and aggressive West.
Ukraine and its Western allies say Russia is waging an unprovoked war aimed at grabbing territory.
On his visit to Avdiivka on Tuesday, Zelensky’s office said he had handed out awards to his troops, telling them: ‘I have the honour to be here today, to thank you for your service, for defending our land, Ukraine, our families.
‘A meeting of Group of Seven foreign ministers in Japan condemned on Tuesday a Russian plan to station shorter-range, so-called tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, a Moscow ally which borders Ukraine.
In a communique at the end of a three-day meeting in Japan, G7 foreign ministers said: ‘Russia’s irresponsible nuclear rhetoric and its threat to deploy nuclear weapons in Belarus are unacceptable.’
‘Any use of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons by Russia would be met with severe consequences,’ they said.
The G7 groups the United States, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Canada, which have all imposed economic sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
A Ukrainian tank performs during firing practice amid Russia-Ukraine war on the frontline of Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine on March 29, 2023
The war in Ukraine has killed tens of thousands of people, levelled cities, forced millions from their homes and shaken up the global security order, including by prompting Russia to strengthen ties with non-Western actors, especially China.
Meanwhile, the Japanese defence ministry said it had scrambled a jet fighter in response to what it said were Russian aircraft gathering information overseas near Japan.
Earlier, Russia said two of its strategic bombers – which are capable of carrying nuclear warheads – had conducted patrol flights over the Sea of Okhotsk and the Bering Sea in Russia’s Far East.
Putin on Monday hailed the military’s performance during massive naval drills that have involved the entire Russian Pacific Fleet – a show of force amid the tensions with the West over the fighting in Ukraine.
Shoigu reported to Putin that the exercise that began Friday involves 167 warships, including 12 submarines, 89 aircraft and 25,000 troops.
As part of the drills, Russia’s nuclear-capable long-range strategic bombers will ‘fly over the central part of the Pacific Ocean to imitate strikes against groups of enemy ships,’ Shoigu said.
Speaking during Monday’s meeting with Shoigu, Putin praised the navy’s ‘high level’ performance and said that similar drills should be held in other areas.
The Defense Ministry has declared that sectors in the southern part of the Sea of Okhotsk, the Peter the Great Bay of the Sea of Japan and the Avacha Bay on the southeastern coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula would be closed to sea and air traffic for the duration of practice torpedo and missile launches and artillery exercises.
The ministry said that the drills were intended to ‘test the Pacific Fleet’s readiness to repel aggression.’ The ministry described the briefing as a show of Russia’s ‘voluntary transparency’.
The Russian military has concentrated the bulk of its forces on the front lines in Ukraine, but has also continued conducting regular drills across Russia to train its forces and demonstrate their readiness.
The Pacific Fleet drills started just before Shangfu arrived in Russia on Sunday and met with Putin.
Li’s talks with Shoigu would focus on ‘prospects of bilateral defense cooperation and acute issues of global and regional security,’ the Russian Defense Ministry said.
On Friday, Shoigu noted that the scenario for the maneuvers envisages a response to an adversary’s attempt to make a landing on Sakhalin Island and the southern Kuril Islands.
Japan asserts territorial rights to the Kuril Islands, which it calls the Northern Territories. The Soviet Union took them in the final days of World War II, and the dispute has kept the countries from signing a peace treaty formally ending their hostilities.
Last year, Russia announced it had suspended peace talks with Japan to protest Tokyo’s sanctions against Moscow over its action in Ukraine.
Russia has built up its military presence on the islands in recent years, deploying advanced fighter jets, anti-ship missiles and air defense systems there.
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