Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov promoted a new "world order" with China on Wednesday ahead of his meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
In a video posted to Twitter by the Russian Foreign Ministry and translated by Agence France-Presse (AFP), Lavrov can be heard saying "We, together with you, and with our sympathizers will move towards a multipolar, just, democratic world order."
"Foreign Ministers Sergey Lavrov and Wang Yi meet in Tunxi, China," the Russian Foreign Ministry tweeted, showing a picture of Lavrov and Wang.
The comments by Lavrov come as China has yet to condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine as fighting continues between both sides. Since Russia invaded Ukraine earlier this month, a number of other Western nations have condemned Russia and have imposed sanctions on Moscow.
Over the past month, China has continued to call for peace between Ukraine and Russia but has yet to criticize the Russian invasion.
According to Reuters, following their meeting, Wang said that both China and Russia are "more determined to develop bilateral ties, and are more confident in promoting cooperation in various fields."
"China is willing to work with Russia to take China-Russian ties to a higher level in a new era under the guidance of the consensus reached by the heads of state," Wang said.
Newsweek reached out to the Russian Foreign Ministry for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
During a press conference on Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said, "There is no limit to China-Russia cooperation in the pursuit of peace," and, he continued, "no limit to our efforts to safeguard security, and no limit to our opposition to hegemony. China-Russia relations feature non-alliance, non-confrontation, and non-targeting of any third party."
Similar comments were made in a joint statement issued by China and Russia earlier this year after Presidents Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping met ahead of the Winter Olympics.
"Friendship between the two States has no limits, there are no 'forbidden' areas of cooperation," the two countries said in a joint statement in February.
Amid the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the U.S. previously claimed that it believed Russia was requesting military assistance from China, but these claims have been denied by Beijing.
The U.S. has continued to call on China to condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine and earlier this month, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said that Xi's future was with Western nations, such as the U.S. and "not with Russia and Vladimir Putin."
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Matthew Impelli is a Newsweek staff writer based in New York. His focus is reporting social issues and crime. In ... Read more
