The China-Russia military cooperation is aimed at increasing mutual resistance to new threats and challenges, the deputy Russian defense minister, Anatoly Antonov said Monday, with Beijing stressing the need to restructure the current world order.
“Our Chinese colleagues stressed the concurrence of common positions on the issue of threats and challenges,” Antonov said, following a meeting between Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and China’s Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission Fan Changlong.
“They noted the need to restructure the current world order, to depart from the double standards and to strengthen equal and mutually beneficial relations in the world,” he noted, Sputnik reported.
According to Antonov, the two sides stressed the “practical benefits” of the 2014 joint naval drills in the East China Sea.
“In May and August of this year, there are two Russia-China naval training exercises planned in the waters of the Mediterranean Sea and the Sea of Japan,” Antonov said.
Russia and China will practice joint participation in peacekeeping operations, as well as counter-terrorism and anti-piracy actions in the Sea of Japan.
Meanwhile, China invited Russian troops to march in a September parade in Beijing to commemorate the end of World War II, the defense ministry said Monday. Chinese President Xi Jinping attended a parade in Moscow on Saturday to mark 70 years since the end of the war in Europe.
“China warmly welcomes Russian military leaders and army formations to take part in the September events in Beijing,” a statement by the Chinese defense ministry said. It said Xi’s visit to Russia and appearance at the Moscow commemorations “pushed the China-Russia all-round strategic partnership relationship to a new level.”
Putin Positive on Peace Deal
Russian President Vladimir Putin said after talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday that the peace process in eastern Ukraine was progressing despite difficulties.
Merkel reaffirmed her support for the peace efforts and repeated her calls to Putin to use his influence with pro-Russian separatists battling Kiev government forces to end a conflict in which more than 6,000 people have been killed since April 2014.
“There is every reason to believe the Minsk process is moving forward, though with problems,” Putin told a joint news conference with Merkel, referring to the peace deal signed in February in the Belarusian capital.
“With all the problems in east Ukraine, it has nevertheless become quieter,” he said, adding that direct dialogue between the Kiev government and the separatists was crucial for peace.
Relations between Russia and Germany, which have multi-billion-dollar trade and energy links, have soured sharply over Moscow’s annexation of Crimea and Berlin has strongly backed the western economic sanctions against Russia.
“The lesson of history is that we have to try everything to solve conflicts - as difficult as they might seem - peacefully and in dialogue and that means diplomatically,” Merkel said.
