Xi: Enhance Sino-Russian strategic coordination

President Xi Jinping said on Wednesday that the stability and certainty of China-Russia relations are truly valuable in a changing and turbulent world, and he called on the two countries to maintain close and effective strategic coordination.

Xi made the remarks in Beijing during a meeting with visiting Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Noting that this year marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the China-Russia strategic partnership of coordination and the 25th anniversary of the signing of the China-Russia Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation, Xi said the treaty's strong vitality and exemplary role have become more significant.

Xi said that both sides should fully implement the important consensus reached between him and Russian President Vladimir Putin, strengthen strategic communication and enhance diplomatic coordination, so that the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination will reach new heights, grow more steadily and advance further.

Xi also said the two sides should maintain strategic resolve, trust and support each other, pursue common development, and manage their own affairs well.

He stressed the need for the two countries to fully leverage the advantages of proximity and complementarity to deepen all-around cooperation and enhance the resilience of their respective development.

Facing changes unseen in a century, Xi emphasized that China and Russia should firmly safeguard their legitimate interests, uphold solidarity among Global South countries, and demonstrate a sense of responsibility as major countries and permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.

He called on the two countries to strengthen multilateral coordination, firmly uphold and practice multilateralism, work together to revitalize the authority and dynamism of the UN, engage in closer coordination and cooperation within frameworks such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and BRICS, and promote a more just and equitable international order.

Lavrov said that Russia-China relations have shown a high degree of resilience amid a complex external environment, and that Moscow stands ready to work with Beijing to take bilateral ties to a higher level and make a greater contribution to world peace and stability.

China-Russia ties have maintained high-level development with fruitful cooperation across a wide range of fields. Xi and Putin have met more than 40 times since 2013. They held a video meeting in February.

China has remained Russia's largest trading partner, with bilateral trade reaching $228.1 billion in 2025, marking the third consecutive year that it exceeded $200 billion.

People-to-people exchanges have also grown closer. The two countries now grant reciprocal visa-free access to holders of ordinary passports, and 2026 and 2027 have been designated as the China-Russia Years of Education.

On Tuesday, Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Lavrov compared notes on the preparations for the meeting between the two heads of state within the year. Reports said that Lavrov told journalists on Wednesday that President Putin will visit China in the first half of this year.

The two ministers also exchanged views on major international and regional issues of common concern, including the United States-Iran conflict, the situation in the Asia-Pacific and the Ukraine crisis.

Li Ziguo, director of the Department for European-Central Asian Studies at the China Institute of International Studies, said that China-Russia ties have reached their current level because the two countries have consistently adhered to mutual respect, good-neighborliness and win-win cooperation, while steadily strengthening economic, trade and people-to-people links and building political and security trust to an unprecedented level.

At a time when relations among major powers are under strain, the international order faces growing disruption, and regional flashpoints are occurring more frequently, the stability of China-Russia relations is itself an important anchor for broader international stability, given the two countries' global influence, Li said.

He added that closer bilateral coordination helps to prevent external forces from stirring up new tensions in the two countries' surrounding regions, while stronger coordination in multilateral mechanisms enables both sides to rally forces in support of fairness and justice, uphold the authority of the UN, and safeguard a more just and equitable international order.

zhaojia@chinadaily.com.cn