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Chinese-Russian relations to flourish regardless of Western slander, Beijing assures

Any attempts to challenge them are doomed to fail, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian stressed

BEIJING, January 24. /TASS/. Chinese-Russian relations will continue to develop stably despite Western defamation and mounting disinformation, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian said at a briefing on Monday.

"This is not just slander against the relations between our countries but also a challenge to us and an attempt to tarnish the Beijing Winter Olympics," he emphasized in response a question from TASS on how China views the ramped-up fake news coming from some Western media outlets about the top-level relations between Russia and China. "I would like to point out that Chinese-Russian relations are well-developed and stable and any attempts to challenge them are doomed to fail," Zhao Lijian assured.

According to the Chinese diplomat, such rhetoric coming from the West "won’t mislead the international community." "We firmly believe that the Beijing Olympics will prove to be a brilliant event. We believe that the Games will be a success witnessed by other countries’ leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin," Zhao Lijian stressed.

The Bloomberg agency reported earlier, citing an unidentified diplomat in Beijing, that Chinese President Xi Jinping could have allegedly asked Putin not to attack Ukraine during the Olympics scheduled for February 4-20. Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova slammed the report as "an information black op" carried out by the United States.

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