BEIJING (Reuters) -China is pleased to see Russia and the United States maintaining contact and improving ties to advance a political resolution of the Ukraine crisis, President Xi Jinping said in a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday.
Beijing will maintain its stance on the need for peace talks and a diplomatic solution to the conflict, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV quoted Xi as telling Putin.
The call was held at Putin’s request, CCTV said.
The call came after the Kremlin said on Thursday that Putin would meet U.S. President Donald Trump in the coming days in the search for an end to the war, now in its fourth year.
Trump took a more conciliatory approach towards Russia after returning to the White House in January but has voiced growing frustration with Putin over the lack of progress towards peace and has threatened to impose heavy tariffs on countries including China that buy Russian oil.
Trump on Wednesday said he could announce further tariffs on China similar to the 25% duties he has already imposed on India over its purchases of Russian oil.
A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, in response to those remarks by Trump, said on Friday that China’s trade and energy cooperation with Russia was “just and legitimate”.
“We will continue to take reasonable measures to ensure energy security based on our own national interests,” spokesperson Guo Jiakun said in a statement released by the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
Friday’s call between Xi and Putin was their second in less than two months.
The two countries have further bolstered their economic, trade and security cooperation since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, which triggered a sharp deterioration in Moscow’s relations with the West.
Putin is expected to visit China in September for events marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War Two.
(Reporting by Ethan Wang, Yukun Zhang and Ryan Woo; Editing by Alex Richardson and Gareth Jones)
