By Shannon Tiezzi
Even as the U.S.-China S&ED opened, Xi Jinping met with the chief of Russia’s presidential administration.
Against the backdrop of the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue, the annual showcase for U.S.-China cooperation, President Xi Jinping welcomed another foreign guest to Beijing: Sergei Ivanov, chief of the Presidential Administration of Russia. Ivanov is in China for a three-day visit, according to the Voice of Russia.
Xi told Ivanov that his close relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin “shows the special characteristics of the China-Russia relationship,” Xinhua reported. Ivanov agreed, and praised the “epoch-making significance” of the deals signed between China and Russia during Putin’s visit to China in May (among them, a massive natural gas deal that was 10 years in the making). The two promised that China and Russia would continue to strengthen their cooperation as agreed to during Putin’s meeting with Xi.
Ivanov also defended China and Russia’s joint military drills, such as the one recently held in the East China Sea. “We are sovereign states; we are not carrying out these drills against somebody. We are holding it to strengthen our bilateral cooperation,” Ivanov said according to RIA Novosti. At the time, there was speculation that the drills were supposed to send a warning message to Japan, and by extension the U.S.
Read the full story at The Diplomat