China, Russia vow to strengthen cooperation, promote world stability

RIO DE JANEIRO - Chinese and Russian foreign ministers on Friday expressed the willingness to strengthen practical cooperation of their countries while vowing to maintain stability of the world.

During his meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that Chinese President Xi Jinping made a historic visit to Russia in June and, together with Russian President Vladimir Putin, upgraded the bilateral relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for the new era.

The two sides should work together to implement the important consensuses reached by the two heads of state, yielding more results and enriching the China-Russia relations, he said at the meeting held on the sidelines of the Formal Meeting of the BRICS Ministers of Foreign Affairs.

He also said the two sides should stand ready for more high-level exchanges, consolidate political mutual trust, strengthen people-to-people exchanges, and expand practical cooperation, especially in the fields of advanced technology and energy.

Noting that the world is undergoing profound changes unseen in a century, Wang said the China-Russia relationship has become increasingly strong and resilient, serving as a stabilizer for the world faced with more uncertainties.

China is willing to work together with Russia on international affairs to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the two countries as well as the international fairness and justice, and jointly promote regional and world peace and stability, Wang added.

Echoing Wang, Lavrov said Russia stands ready to work with China to implement the consensuses of the two heads of state and promote a steady development of their comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for the new era to achieve more practical results.

Under the current situation, the comprehensive and strategic nature of the Russia-China cooperation is becoming more prominent, Lavrov said.

The two countries should strengthen coordination and cooperation on regional and international affairs to inject more stability into the world, he said.

Lavrov said that the Russia-China strategic coordination has a strong inherent dynamism and will not be affected by external factors, adding that any attempt to undermine their bilateral cooperation is doomed to fail.

The two sides also exchanged views on international issues of common concern such as the Iran nuclear issue and the situation in Venezuela.