China says it will continue to cooperate with Russia on military technology, energy

Pipeline of Gazprom Company, Russia, brings gas to China – Photo: Bloomberg

Tass news agency quoted Chinese Ambassador Zhang Hanhui as saying in an interview last weekend that the two countries need to strengthen cooperation to “resolve difficulties caused by sanctions”.

Regarding energy, Mr. Zhang said this is the most important area and needs to promote cooperation in the context that Europe is looking to boycott energy from Russia. However, the Chinese diplomat did not make a commitment that the country would buy more oil and gas from Moscow.

“The US and Western sanctions against Russia are really causing some problems in China-Russia practical cooperation, and the two countries should strengthen communication and coordination to solve the difficulties caused by Russia,” he said. sanctions caused to both sides in the trade and logistics settlement,” Zhang said when asked if there was a way to bypass the sanctions on Russia.

The Chinese diplomat said Beijing would support the expansion of the use of the domestic currency in bilateral trade, investment, credit, etc. Earlier, Boris Dzhabarov, vice chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Russian Senate, also affirmed that Moscow is ready to use the yuan in trade with China.

Zhang dismissed the country’s plans to abandon the dollar, saying instead that Russia and China would have “flexible and practical forms of cooperation”.

In addition to energy, the West is also concerned that Russia will increase cooperation with China in technology, especially in the military and space fields. In an interview with Tass, Mr. Zhang emphasized that military technology cooperation between the two countries is in line with the core interests of both sides and is not aimed at a third party.

The Chinese diplomat described the “deep and effective” cooperation in space and lunar exploration, manned space flight, satellite navigation, Earth observation, space technology and applications.

“Cooperation in the field of science and technology… is not interfered with by other factors and is carried out independently,” said Mr. Zhang.

What does Russia look for from India, China?

TTO – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov personally visited China and India this week to seek to strengthen ties with the two major economic powers in Asia, amid Russia’s increasing sanctions by the West. .