Le Shoigu visits China… First China-Russia contact since Trump’s election

Russian National Security Council. /Reuters Yonhap News”/>

Sergei Shoigu, Secretary of the Russian National Security Council. /Reuters Yonhap News

Sergei Shoigu, Secretary of the Russian National Security Council, visits China on the 11th and holds talks with high-ranking officials. This is the first high-level contact between China and Russia since former President Donald Trump was elected in the U.S. presidential election.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Zhen said in a briefing on the 11th, “Secretary Shoigu will come to China from the 11th to the 15th to attend the 19th Annual Strategic and Security Negotiations between China and Russia and the 9th Meeting of the China-Russia Law Enforcement and Security Cooperation Mechanism.”

Spokesperson Lin said, “The two countries are maintaining close communication on strategic and overall issues of common interest,” and Wang Yi, director of the Central Foreign Affairs Office of the Communist Party of China (also serving as Minister of Foreign Affairs), and Chen Wenqing, secretary of the Party’s Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, the head of Chinese public security, respectively. He said he would meet Secretary Shoigu for talks.

During his visit, Secretary Shoigu will also attend an air show held in Zhuhai, China, and watch the first overseas demonstration of Russia’s fifth-generation fighter Su-57.

Earlier, Russia’s TASS news agency broke the news of Secretary Shoigu’s visit to China and reported that he plans to meet with Secretary Chen to discuss public security and the rule of law, as well as responses to extremism, terrorism, and transnational crimes.

Secretary Shoigu is a close associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin. He served as Minister of Defense from 2012 to last May. After carrying out the war in Ukraine, he moved to the position of Secretary of the National Security Council and visited North Korea in July of last year, leading to a North Korea-Russia summit in September of that year.

Liu Jianchao, head of the Chinese Communist Party’s external liaison department (ministerial level), who is mainly responsible for party-to-party diplomacy in former communist countries, met with Russian Kremlin aide Dmitry Mironov in Beijing on this day.

According to the Chinese Communist Party’s External Liaison Department, Director Liu told Assistant Mironov, “China is willing to work with Russia to promote strategic communication and practical cooperation using the common understanding of the two leaders as a guideline, and to jointly safeguard international fairness and justice.” “China is willing to make practical efforts to enrich exchanges with Russia across sectors and organizations, deepen exchanges of governance experiences, and solidify the generations-old friendship between China and Russia,” he said.

Advisor Mironov said, “The current Russia-China relationship is a model for great power relations,” and added, “In the complex international situation, Russia, along with China, is a member of the United Nations (UN), Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), BRICS, and G20.” “We are willing to engage in close communication and cooperation in international multilateral mechanisms,” the External Liaison Department said.