The close relationship between China and Russia has been noticed by politicians in the US and the European Union and is therefore helping to balance power in the sphere of international diplomacy, the former Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev, has claimed.
Speaking to news agency TASS, in comments published on Thursday, the former head of state said that Moscow’s close relations with Beijing are positive for the world as a whole. Medvedev currently serves as deputy chairman of the Security Council.
“We have no military alliance with the People’s Republic of China, and no one is striving for that. But at the same time, it is constantly being talked about, and our relations are being monitored all the time,” Medvedev said. In his opinion, this is proof that the close ties between Moscow and Beijing have “already had an impact as a balancing factor on the international balance of power.”
In particular, Medvedev noted that Russia’s “friends across the ocean and in Europe” are constantly talking about the tight relationship between Moscow and Beijing, suggesting that this in itself shows that it is acting as a counterbalance against the transatlantic powers.
America has repeatedly expressed concern that China and Russia want to change the so-called rules-based international order, and Washington chose to exclude both nations from the US-hosted Summit for Democracy, held last year.
On Wednesday, Russia Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called the relationship with China “a good example of what relations between countries should be like in the 21st century,” suggesting that the West has responded badly to the improving Sino-Russian relationship, and has chosen to punish both nations with “sanctions” and “media demonization campaigns.”
In response, on Thursday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian called the partnership “a new model of relations between major powers.”
“There are no limits to mutual trust and strategic cooperation between China and Russia,” Zhao said.