According to Xinhua News Agency, on February 4, Chinese President Xi Jinping had an online meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. On the same day, Xi Jinping also had a phone call with US President Donald Trump, exchanging views on bilateral relations and international issues of common concern.
In an online meeting with President Putin, President Xi Jinping emphasized that China and Russia need to strengthen coordination to maintain global strategic stability in the context of the increasingly complex international situation since the beginning of the year.
He believes that, as responsible major countries and permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, China and Russia have an obligation to promote the international community to uphold fairness and justice, protect the achievements of World War II, and steadfastly maintain the international system with the United Nations as the center and the basic norms of international law.
According to a statement from the Kremlin, President Putin used the image of the Lunar New Year according to the traditional Chinese calendar to compare Russia-China relations. He said that although according to the weather, the Lunar New Year marks the beginning of spring, in Russia-China relations, "spring lasts all year round", implying stable and strong cooperative relations.
Also on the same day, President Xi Jinping had a phone call with US President Donald Trump. According to Xinhua News Agency, Mr. Xi Jinping affirmed that he values Sino-US relations, recalled that the two leaders maintained regular exchanges in the past and had a meeting that was assessed as positive in Busan, thereby orienting the development of bilateral relations.
The Chinese President emphasized that the Taiwan (China) issue is the most important and sensitive issue in Sino-US relations, affirming that Taiwan (China) is part of China's territory and Beijing is determined to protect sovereignty and territorial integrity. He also called on the US to handle the issue of arms sales to Taiwan (China) cautiously.
According to a statement from the Chinese Foreign Ministry, President Trump assessed that both the US and China are large countries, and US-China relations are the most important bilateral relationship in the world today.
Mr. Trump expressed his desire for China to continue to develop and affirmed that the US is ready to cooperate to promote relations between the two countries, maintain exchanges and dialogue to maintain stable bilateral relations during his term.
Wang Xiaoquan - a researcher at the Institute of Russian, Eastern European and Central Asian Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences - said that China's leadership's increased contact with Russia from the beginning of the year is an important mechanism to strengthen bilateral relations, especially in the context of many strategic issues and key tasks that need to be coordinated at a high level.
Regarding Sino-US relations, analysts believe that Beijing pursues a policy of stable, healthy and sustainable relations based on mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and mutually beneficial cooperation. Although competition is sometimes fierce, maintaining high-level dialogue is considered necessary to control differences and avoid miscalculations.
