China, Russia vow to strengthen ties

China and Russia vowed on Tuesday to strengthen strategic communication and coordination to jointly safeguard multilateralism and promote world peace and development.

State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov agreed to take advantage of 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties to promote bilateral ties when they met in Wuzhen, Zhejiang Province on Tuesday.

Lavrov is on a visit to China to attend the 16th meeting of the foreign ministers of China, Russia and India to be held in Wuzhen on Wednesday.

Wang said during the meeting that, given the complex international situation, the two countries should deepen strategic coordination to safeguard their common interests.

Noting China, Russian and India are all major countries of international influence and emerging markets, Wang said their intensification of communications, coordination of their respective stances and deepening of cooperation are greatly important to the region and even the world.

He called on the three countries to make concerted effort to push forward the trilateral meeting to general positive outcomes so as to inject positive energy into the international situation that is unstable and uncertain.

Lavrov said that Russia stands ready to work with China to implement the consensus reached by the two heads of state and promote bilateral ties to make more positive achievements this year.

He said the two countries should work together to uphold multilateralism and the basic norms of international relations.

During the meeting, Wang and Lavrov also exchanged views and coordinated their positions on the international and regional hotspot issues such as the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue, the Venezuela situation, Afghanistan as well as the Iran nuclear agreement.