China and Russia agreed Monday to further deepen military cooperation after their leaders affirmed last week close coordination in countering the United States and its allies amid the Ukraine crisis and heightened tensions across the Taiwan Strait, Russia's Tass news agency said.
Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolay Patrushev, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, and China's foreign policy chief Yang Jiechi expressed "mutual interest in maintaining a high level of military-technical cooperation" including conducting joint exercises and patrols during a meeting in Nanping, southeastern China, it said.
Moscow said last Thursday that Chinese and Russian naval vessels have begun joint patrols in the Pacific region. The Chinese military also joined Russia's "Vostok" exercises held recently involving over 50,000 military personnel from 14 countries, sending its ships to the Sea of Japan.
In the meeting with Yang, a member of the Communist Party's decision-making Politburo, Patrushev said the development of a strategic partnership with Beijing is "an unconditional priority" of Moscow's foreign policy, according to the Tass report.
In his meeting with Putin in Uzbekistan last Thursday, the first face-to-face talks since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in late February, Chinese President Xi Jinping said China is ready to work with Russia in "extending strong support to each other on issues concerning their respective core interests."
Putin at that time acknowledged Beijing's "concerns" over the Ukrainian crisis and vowed to clarify Moscow's position.
