Chinese Defense Minister to Visit Russia for Talks With Military Leaders

The Chinese and Russian national flags (R) on the international logistics billboard in Ritan International Trade Center in Beijing, on March 22, 2022. Jade Gao/AFP via Getty Images

China’s defense chief will visit Russia on Sunday for talks with Russian military leaders, the Chinese Defense Ministry said on Friday, as the two allies seek to bolster their military alliance on the heels of Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine.

Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu will embark on a four-day visit to Moscow at the invitation of his Russian counterpart, Sergei Shoigu, Chinese Defense Ministry spokesperson Tan Kefei told reporters.

Li will hold talks with Russian military leaders and visit Russian military academies during his trip there, according to the spokesperson.

“In recent years, under the strategic guidance of the two heads of state, the Sino-Russian military relations have continued to operate at a high level,” Tan was quoted as saying by the ministry.

Both sides have made progress in “strategic communication, joint exercises, and practical cooperation, which has continuously enriched the strategic connotation of the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination in the new era,” he added.

Tan also criticized NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg’s remarks that the transatlantic alliance must deepen its engagement with partners in the Indo-Pacific region amid “the security challenges posed by China.”

“China firmly opposes NATO’s involvement in the Asia-Pacific affairs on the pretext of the so-called ‘China challenge’ to construct the Asia-Pacific version of NATO,” he said in a separate statement.

‘Multipolar World Order’

Li’s visit came after a meeting between Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Moscow on March 20, during which the two leaders reaffirmed their “no-limits” partnership.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and Chinese leader Xi Jinping toast during their dinner at The Palace of the Facets in the Moscow Kremlin, Russia, on March 21, 2023. Pavel Byrkin, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP

During the meeting, Putin vowed that China and Russia would create a more just “multipolar world order” based on international law “rather than certain rules serving the needs of the golden billion.”

Tan later reaffirmed the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) commitment to work with Russia to implement “global security initiatives” to maintain international and regional security while “serving the building of a community of common destiny for mankind.”

The two regimes pledged to “organize regular joint maritime and air patrols and exercises and training, and to strengthen various exchanges and cooperation between the two militaries,” he said on March 30.

The “community of common destiny” is a key part of Chinese communist propaganda and has been frequently invoked by Xi since assuming control of the Party in 2012.

It’s commonly understood that the CCP slogan is intended to presage the eventual displacement of the current international order with a Marxist-Leninist order headed by, and dependent on, the regime in Beijing.

US Sanctions Over 120 Targets

The United States announced on Wednesday a new round of sanctions targeting over 120 entities and individuals across 20 nations and jurisdictions, including a Russian private military firm and a China-based firm, over their alleged roles in aiding Russia’s war in Ukraine.

The sanctioned targets include Russian business tycoon Alisher Usmanov, who has “at his disposal a wide network of businesses in financial safe havens and family members through which to conduct financial transactions, enabling him to potentially circumvent sanctions.”

Usmanov was also sanctioned by Australia, Canada, the European Union, Japan, New Zealand, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

State Secretary Antony Blinken said in a statement that Washington would continue to take action against Russia and those supporting its war in Ukraine.

“More than one year into Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, the effects of our globally coordinated sanctions have forced the Russian Federation to search for alternate routes to finance and fuel its war machine,” Blinken said.

The Chinese Commerce Ministry strongly condemned the U.S. sanctions against Chinese firms and urged the United States to cease its “unreasonable suppression” of Chinese companies.

Andrew Thornebrooke contributed to this report.