China-Russia relations are unrivalled, Beijing warns before US’ Mike Pompeo meets Vladimir Putin
- Foreign Minister Wang Yi says ties with Russia ‘not vulnerable to interference’ as he meets counterpart Sergei Lavrov and the Russian president
- US Secretary of State to discuss ‘full range of bilateral and multilateral challenges’ with Lavrov and Putin on Tuesday
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has issued a veiled warning to the United States not to undermine China’s relations with Russia and criticised “outside interference” in the relationship between the two countries.
Visiting Sochi on Monday for meetings with counterpart Sergei Lavrov and Russian President Vladimir Putin – a day before the Russian pair met US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo – Wang said China-Russia relations set an example “beyond compare”, while the world was “in chaos and disorder”.
“Unilateralism runs rampant, conflicting the current international system and basic norms of international relations,” Wang said, according to a statement released by the Chinese foreign ministry on Tuesday.
“Rumours and smears are used as tools to attack other countries, as if a lie repeats a thousand times and becomes a fact,” he said.
Wang’s comment came after Beijing and Washington dramatically escalated their tit-for-tat trade war, imposing extra punitive tariffs on each other’s exports after the two sides failed to agree a trade deal last week.
