BEIJING, January 9. /TASS/. The series of highly productive meetings and talks held between President Xi Jinping of China and President Vladimir Putin of Russia in 2023 were among Beijing’s most important foreign policy milestones of the past year, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi noted.

The top Chinese diplomat pointed, in particular, to Xi’s visit to Moscow last March and his "long conversation" with Putin. "We will continue to deepen the comprehensive strategic cooperation between China and Russia, <...> supporting the world’s movement towards multipolarity and promoting the democratization of international relations," Wang pointed out at a briefing devoted to an annual wrap-up of events in 2023.

"President Xi Jinping chose Russia for his first foreign visit last year. He held two meetings with President Putin over the year. Thanks to the high degree of mutual trust and the strategic leadership of the Chinese and Russian heads of state, he exhibited the practice of genuine multipolarity, enhanced pragmatic cooperation in various fields, and supported global strategic stability," the Chinese foreign minister emphasized.

As for Beijing’s other diplomatic successes, Wang mentioned the meetings that Xi held on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in San Francisco in November, as well as the Third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing in October, the BRICS group summit in Johannesburg in August, the Chinese-brokered normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran, the Chinese head of state’s negotiations with the leaders of France, Germany and other European countries, the China-Central Asia summit in May, and Xi’s visit to Vietnam, as well as a number of other key events and activities.