XI, PUTIN EXTEND 20-YR FRIENDSHIP TREATY TO STRENGTHEN TIES

BEIJING: Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President 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 on Monday. As per a state-run Xinhua news agency, they 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), that they signed in 2001.

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.

The TGNFC aligns with both countries’ fundamental interests, echoes the themes of the times for peace and development, and is a vivid example of building a new type of international relations and community with a shared future for mankind, Xi, also General Secretary of the CPC, said. On his part, Putin said the coordination between Russia and China plays a stabilising role in global affairs amid the growing political turbulence and increasing conflict potential, TASS news agency reported.

“Amid the increasing geopolitical turbulence, the breakdown of arms control agreements, and the increasing conflict potential in various corners of the world, the Russian-Chinese coordination plays a stabilising role in the global affairs,” Putin underscored. Putin said that the Russian-Chinese Treaty of Good-Neighborliness, Friendship, and Cooperation largely determined the current condition of bilateral relations.

He also stressed it is important that Russia and China have no territorial claims against each other and that this recognition rests upon a firm legal basis.

-With PTI inputs