Lavrov on the sidelines of the forum on Afghanistan discussed the strengthening of ties with China

On Wednesday, March 30, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov began a two-day visit to China. The small city of Tunxi in the east of the country was chosen by the PRC authorities as the venue for a conference of Afghanistan's neighbors. Their third forum (the first one took place two years ago in Moscow) is attended by Russia , China, Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

For Lavrov, the trip to China was the second foreign visit since the beginning of the Russian special operation in Ukraine - on March 10, he visited a diplomatic forum in Turkey. The changed international environment was the focus of Lavrov's meetings on Wednesday. The first and most important was the conversation with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

Russian-Chinese relations, their development and strengthening have long been of concern to Western countries. Since the beginning of the Ukrainian crisis, US President Joe Biden, the leaders of the European Union have repeatedly called on Beijing not to assist Russia in circumventing the sanctions imposed against it and to condemn Russia's policy. China responded by pointing out the unacceptability of unilateral restrictions. Wang Yi once again stated this in a conversation with EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell, which took place on the eve of Lavrov's visit (this was the third conversation between Wang and Borrell since the start of the special operation). The Chinese minister pointed out the unacceptability of extremely tough Western sanctions, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said. “The most severe sanctions can harm both sides and further complicate the situation, increase contradictions,” he said (quoted from the website of the Chinese Foreign Ministry). According to Wang, unilateral sanctions are “paid for by countries and peoples not participating in the military confrontation between Moscow and Kyiv,” which is unfair and illegal.

At the talks on Wednesday, Wang and Lavrov stated that Russia and China continue to strengthen their strategic partnership and act from a common position. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin later said that Beijing would continue to play a constructive role and provide assistance to normalize the situation in Ukraine (on Tuesday, the Ukrainian delegation at the talks in Istanbul said it considered it necessary to invite members of the UN Security Council to become guarantors of a future agreement with Moscow, in which includes China).

Trade turnover between China and Russia in 2020 amounted to $107.76 billion, and with Ukraine — $15.4 billion.