Putin calls for closer Russia-China cooperation on military satellites, prospective weapons

Russian President Vladimir Putin met with a senior Chinese military official outside Moscow on Wednesday. “I mean space, including high-orbit assets, and new prospective types of weapons that will ensure strategic security of both Russia and the People’s Republic of China,” Putin said without elaboration. He emphasized that while “Russia and China aren’t building any military alliances based on Cold War patterns,” their cooperation is a “serious factor in stabilizing the international situation.” Putin has previously said that Russia has been sharing highly sensitive military technologies with China that helped significantly bolster its defense capability. Zhang hailed Moscow for resisting Western pressure, saying that “the Russian Federation under your leadership is standing firm in the face of Western sanctions, showing that you and Russia won’t be bent by any difficulties.” He added: “The Chinese side expresses its respect for you for this.” Speaking during a meeting with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu earlier in the day, Zhang said that the relations between Russia and China are “at the highest level in the new epoch,” adding that the two countries “invariably support each other on issues of fundamental interest and key concerns.” He hailed a “model of strategic trust and mutually beneficial cooperation” between Moscow and Beijing, and noted that his visit is intended to help further boost military cooperation. “Unlike certain aggressive Western countries, we are not creating a military bloc,” he said, adding that mutual ties “set an example of strategic interaction based on trust and respect.” “We hold regular operational and combat exercises on land, in the air and at sea, and successfully accomplish combat training missions of various levels of complexity shoulder-to-shoulder,” Shoigu said.