MOSCOW, September 19. /TASS/. China is grateful to Russia for its support on key matters, such as the Taiwan problem, visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Tuesday.

"You said that Russia will support China on issues of key interests. We are very thankful to our Russian colleagues here because this is a very important area of comprehensive strategic cooperation between our countries," he said at a meeting with Secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolay Patrushev.

Patrushev, in turn, said that Moscow continues to support Beijing on issues surrounding Taiwan, Xinjiang, Tibet, and Hong Kong, which are "used by the West to discredit China." He noted that "amid the collective West’s campaign of dual containment against Russia and China, further strengthening of Russian-Chinese coordination and cooperation in the global arena is becoming especially important."

Moscow and Beijing are developing cooperation to defend their basic interests. Wang Yi is visiting Russia on September 18-21 to take part in the 18th round of Russian-Chinese consultations on strategic security.