China to push strategic partnership with Russia: Foreign Ministry
December 5, 2014, 12:01 pm

File photo of Putin (right) presenting the Russian delegation to President of China Xi Jinping in March 2013 [PPIO]

“China is determined to keep building up the strategic partnership with Russia,” said a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson on Friday in Beijing.

“We respect the road taken by the Russian nation, including its domestic and foreign policies. We watched the Russian president’s statement with great interest. The level of trust and cooperation between our countries is very high,” Hua Chunying was quoted by Russian agency Tass.

In a televised address to the nation, Putin said on Thursday, some governments are attempting “to create a new iron curtain around Russia”.

The Russian President hit out at the US alleging Washington “always influences Russia’s relations with neighbors, directly or indirectly”, even as the Ukraine crisis is straining ties between many EU capitals and Moscow.

Earlier last month, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov alleged Washington is seeking to achieve a regime change in Russia and is instigating Moscow’s closest allies to join in the punitive sanctions.

“We have a million confirmations that all over the world American ambassadors, envoys are insisting on top-level meeting to say – you should be punishing Russia jointly with us. This is done in all countries, no exceptions, including our closest allies,” Lavrov said.

In measures to offset the impact of sanctions to the Russian economy, Putin on Thursday promised an amnesty for capital repatriated to the country and a national wealth fund to support domestic banks.

The Russian economy is bearing the brunt of Western sanctions over the Ukraine crisis, said Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov earlier last week in Moscow.

“We are losing around $40 billion in a year because of sanctions and another $90 to $100 billion because of a 30-percent drop in oil prices,” Siluanov said.

At the Kremlin’s St George Hall, addressing an audience of more than 1,000 people, Putin on Thursday said the US is trying to undermine the Russian economy and that Western sanctions would have been imposed regardless of Crimea and Ukraine.

Moscow is consciously making a concerted attempt in reducing dollar dependence for Russian trade, including making greater use of settlements in ruble and yuan in its trade with China.

“We’re moving away from the diktat of the market that denominates all commercial oil flows in US dollars. We’re encouraging in every way the use of national currencies – both the ruble and the yuan,” Putin said last month.

TBP