Russia, China must stick together against West: Russian official

Nikolay Patrushev, the secretary of Russia's Security Council, has told China's top diplomat that the two countries must stick together over a range of issues against the West. 

Patrushev also told the visiting Wang Yi that Moscow backed China's position over Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Xinjiang, according to a statement cited by the RIA Novosti news agency on Tuesday.

Wang, who was named Chinese President Xi Jinping's top foreign policy adviser last month, arrived in Moscow on Tuesday for talks expected to focus on the Ukraine crisis.

Wang will meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday.

While neither country has specified whether Wang will hold talks with President Vladimir Putin, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday that "we do not exclude" the possibility of such a meeting.

Wang is making the high-profile visit as the final stop in an eight-day international tour that included visits to France, Italy, and Hungary, as well as Germany for a security conference.

Wang said at the Munich Security Conference (MSC) on Saturday that Beijing would release its position on a "political settlement" of the Ukrainian crisis. The top Chinese diplomat on Monday urged an end to hostilities and called for negotiations and peace for the sake of the world and Europe in particular.

"We would like a political solution to provide a peaceful and sustainable framework to Europe," Wang said ahead of a visit to Moscow during a stop in Hungary.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin on Monday dismissed claims by the United States that China was considering arming Russia in its war with Ukraine.

China denies US claim about arming Russia, slams Washington’s meddlesome remarks

US Secretary of State Blinken has claimed Beijing is "considering providing lethal support" to Moscow.

Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang on Tuesday expressed "deep concern" about escalation in the Ukraine-Russia war, urging Western countries to "stop fueling the fire" and warning of the possibility that it could "spiral out of control."

Qin also urged countries to stop shifting the blame to Beijing after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that China could be "considering providing lethal support" to Moscow ranging "from ammunition to the weapons themselves."

Beijing has on many occasions slammed Washington for escalating the conflict by providing Ukraine with large cache of weapons.

Elsewhere in his remarks on Tuesday, Qin called on Western countries to "stop hyping up 'today Ukraine, tomorrow Taiwan.'"

China has sovereignty over Chinese Taipei, and under the One China policy, almost all world countries recognize that sovereignty. The US, too, recognizes Chinese sovereignty over the island but has long courted Taipei in an attempt to unnerve Beijing.

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