BEIJING, June 15. /TASS/. Attempts of certain states to pit Beijing and Moscow against each other and turn Chinese-Russian relations sour will not be successful, spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry Zhao Lijian told a regular briefing on Tuesday, commenting on the remarks made by Russian President Vladimir Putin about Taiwan.
"We highly appreciate President Putin’s comments. Our solidarity is strong as a rock just like the friendship between the two states," the diplomat underlined. "Fine gold is not afraid of fire. We want to tell everyone who is trying to drive a wedge between China and Russia that their undertakings are doomed to fail. We hope that they will stop going down this wrong path, abandon zero-sum games or creation of blocks and confrontations," he underlined.
The spokesperson noted that Beijing and Moscow established a gold standard of relations between major powers, together defend results of the Second World War as well as fairness on the global arena.
Putin said in an interview with NBC that China is not trying to deal with the issue of Taiwan through military means, noting that it is therefore inappropriate to contemplate this scenario. "Are you aware of China's plans to militarily solve the Taiwan problem? I don't know anything about it. As we frequently say, politics do not require the subjunctive mood. The subjunctive mood is inappropriate in politics. There is no "could be" and "would be" in politics. I cannot comment on anything that is not a current reality of the modern world," he said.
Taiwan has been under its local administration rule since 1949, when the Kuomintang’s remaining forces headed by Chiang Kai-shek were defeated in the Chinese Civil War, and took refuge on the island. Taiwan has preserved the flag and several other symbols of the Republic of China that previously existed before communists took over the mainland. Beijing regards the island as one of its provinces.