NEW YORK, December 16. /TASS/. Russia and China are acting like "a bloc," showing solidarity amid their deteriorating relations with the United States, the New York Times wrote commenting on the results of the talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping. The two leaders held a meeting via a video link on Wednesday.
The publication underscored friendly relations between the two leaders and their "display of solidarity in the face of Western pressure over Ukraine, Taiwan and other disputes."
"China and Russia, once adversaries, have formed an ever-tighter economic, military and geopolitical partnership under Mr. Xi and Mr. Putin — one that increasingly looks like a bloc against American influence as both countries’ confrontations with the United States deepen," the New York Times notes.
The newspaper points at the fact that the meeting of the Russian and Chinese leaders came "at a high-stakes moment," during the visit of Karen Donfried, the American assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian Affairs, to Moscow. She voiced Washington’s readiness to provide assistance to the diplomatic settlement of the conflict in Ukraine and the efforts of the Normandy format.
"And as the United States and its allies threaten crushing economic sanctions against Russia were it to assault Ukraine, Moscow is signaling that it has plenty of other friends in the world," the authors of the publication say.
According to the publication, the meeting between the Russian President and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi sent a similar message.
The Russian and Chinese Presidents, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, discussed all pressing issues of regional and global agenda during their one-and-a-half-hour call on Wednesday, Russian Presidential Aide for International Affairs Yury Ushakov told journalists following the leaders’ virtual summit.
According to him "the leaders managed to discuss all pressing issues of bilateral relations and international agenda" - from security guarantees for Moscow in Europe to the creation of new alliances in the Asia-Pacific region. In addition, Putin and Xi Jinping discussed bilateral relations and future meetings. One of these meeting may take place in February 2022.