China and Russia should work closely to restore UN authority for a just balanced international order Xi tells Lavrov

Beijing, Apr 15 (PTI) China and Russia should work together to restore the authority of the UN and closely cooperate in BRICS and SCO forums to advance the international order in a more just and reasonable direction, Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Wednesday.
    During a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Beijing, President Xi also called on both countries to step up efforts against US President Donald Trump's aggressive unilateral actions.
    Xi, who stepped up criticism against Trump for his war on Iran in the last few days, asserting that the world should be prevented from falling back into the law of the jungle, sought more closer cooperation between allies Moscow and Beijing to restore multilateralism and the international rule of law.   
    "It is necessary to strengthen multilateral cooperation, firmly support and promote multilateralism, jointly work to restore the authority and vitality of the UN and closely coordinate and cooperate within the frameworks of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and BRICS to advance the development of the international order in a more just and reasonable direction," Xi told Lavrov.
    In the follow-up to Lavrov's visit to Beijing in the midst of Trump’s war against Iran, as well as his virtual takeover of power in Venezuela - an ally of both China and Russia - Moscow and Beijing were expected to step up coordination in the UN, where they are permanent members of the Security Council.
    The two countries were also expected to push BRICS to take a more proactive stand on the restoration of multilateralism and the developmental interests of emerging economies in this year’s summit, which is due to be held in India later this year.
    Xi, who shares a close friendship with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, said the two countries should maintain strategic resolve, trust and support each other, develop jointly and properly fulfil their respective tasks.
    It is necessary for the two sides to fully leverage the advantages of proximity and complementarity, deepen cooperation on all fronts, and enhance the resilience of their respective development, he was quoted as saying by the state-run Xinhua news agency.
    He also noted that Russia and China should deepen strategic cooperation to protect their legitimate interests and uphold the unity of the Global South, Xinhua quoted him as saying.
    "Facing changes unseen in a century, China and Russia should, through even closer and stronger strategic coordination, firmly safeguard the legitimate interests of both countries and defend the unity of Global South nations," Xi said.
    The Xi-Lavrov meeting took place against the backdrop of the failed first round of talks between the US and Iran in Pakistan and Washington’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, creating acute global energy shortages.
    Ahead of Lavrov’s visit, Xi spent a busy week meeting a host of world leaders, including Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Vietnam’s Communist Party leader and newly appointed president of the country To Lam, calling for joint action to restore multilateralism. 
    These meetings come ahead of the planned visit of Trump to Beijing next month, before which China has stepped up efforts to project itself as an indispensable diplomatic hub and a key stabilising actor amid global uncertainty, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported.
    Trump has dismissed concerns that the ongoing war with Iran will derail his upcoming visit to Beijing.
    In an interview with Fox Business aired on Wednesday, Trump said he did not think the war would change the dynamic of his coming visit to China.
    “(Xi is) somebody who needs oil. We don’t,” he said.
    China imports about 40 per cent of its energy from Iran and other Gulf nations through the Strait of Hormuz.
    Trump said he exchanged letters with Xi, asking that China not give weapons to Iran. “He wrote a letter saying that essentially he’s not doing that,” the US president said of Xi’s response.
    Trump did not elaborate on when the letter exchange took place, the Post reported.
    China has denied reports that it aided Iran with weapons and satellite support.
    For his part, Lavrov hailed bilateral ties as “a stabiliser in world affairs” and increasingly significant for the “global majority seeking calm conditions for sustainable development rather than turbulence”.
    Thanks to the interaction between President Xi and President Putin, “bilateral ties show resilience to economic and geopolitical shocks that are increasingly acquiring a military dimension”, TASS quoted him as saying.
    At a news conference in Beijing, Lavrov offered China and other countries to step up the supply of oil and gas, which became scarce due to the US-Iran war. Russia is a major supplier of oil and gas through the cross-border pipelines. 
    Russia could “without a doubt, compensate for the shortfall in resources that has arisen” for China and “other countries that are interested in working with us” in the aftermath of the Iran crisis, Tass reported.
    During his meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Tuesday, Lavrov warned that the world was “facing severe challenges, and some countries are attempting to form ‘small circles’ to contain Russia and China”.
    He added that “some very, very dangerous games” were unfolding in East Asian geopolitical hotspots, a thinly veiled jab at the US and its allies.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)