Russian president states Beijing and Moscow are more important to each other than ever before. On Thursday, President Putin stated that despite having tense relations in the past, Moscow and Beijing are now working together on an unprecedented number of issues, including trade, technology and defence. Speaking to journalists as part of his annual press conference, the Russian president stated that he and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping address each other as “friends.”
Putin added, “We have very trusting relations and it helps us build good business ties as well,” noting that Beijing is an “obvious leader” in the global economy and Asia, meaning that it is only natural that Russia develops relations with China in this field. Putin stated that Russia is “China’s number one partner,” stressing that they would work in lot of areas, including the energy sector, space exploration and on humanitarian issues. He stated that this “brings us closer together.” He added, “We are cooperating in the field of security. The Chinese Army is equipped to a significant extent with the world’s most advanced weapons systems. We are even deeper certain high-tech weapons together.”
