PATRIOT PARK / Moscow Region/, August 15. /TASS/. Beijing welcomes the current highly intensive dialogue between the Chinese and Russian defense ministries, Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu said on Tuesday.

"This is our third meeting [with Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu] this year. I haven’t had such an intensive communication with any other defense minister," he said at the 11th Moscow Conference on International Security. "Intensive exchanges are conducted between the two countries’ armed forces, including at the high level, like between the two states."

The Chinese minister noted that he would like to discuss prospects for the cooperation between the countries armed forces with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Shoigu.

"Yesterday, the Russian defense minister visited China’s exposition [at the Army 2023 forum]. This is also very inspiring for our companies," Li stressed.

He recalled meetings between Presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia and Xi Jinping of China, as well as his own visit to Moscow in April and Chinese visit by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and speaker of the Federation Council, or upper house of Russia’s parliament, Valentina Matviyenko. "Such an intensive strategic dialogue between the two countries promotes cooperation in the entire spectrum of areas and enriches Chinese-Russian relations," he added.

The Army 2023 international military-technical forum is running at the Patriot Congress and Exhibition Center, the Alabino training ground and the Kubinka airfield outside Moscow on August 14-20. About 1,500 leading Russian defense enterprises and 85 foreign companies and businesses from seven countries are participating in the forum’s expositions and business program.

The forum has been organized by the Russian Defense Ministry. TASS is the forum’s strategic media partner.