“As partners of comprehensive strategic cooperation in the new era, China and Russia have always maintained close high-level exchanges,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said, referring to this surprise visit. The spokesman also said he has no information to offer at present on Shoigu’s agenda.
The Russian news agency TASS reported that the Russian Security Council Secretary arrived in Beijing to hold talks with the Chinese side on bilateral issues on security sphere, as well as global and regional problems.
This is Shoigu’s second visit to China in the past three months.
Shoigu’s arrival comes a day after a six-hour meeting between the US and Russian delegations on bilateral issues at the US consulate general in Istanbul on Thursday, which ended without a press statement.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping recently held a telephone conversation in which they exchanged views on the development of bilateral relations.
The Kremlin’s statement added that Putin informed his Chinese counterpart about contacts between Moscow and Washington, while Beijing expressed its support for dialogues and its readiness to promote a peaceful solution to the Ukrainian conflict.
Both Putin and Xi said in their telephone conversation that Russian-Chinese ties are not directed against anyone and play a stabilizing role in world affairs.
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