MOSCOW — The Chinese protection chief vowed Tuesday to take navy cooperation with Moscow to a brand new degree, an announcement that displays more and more shut Russia-China ties amid the combating in Ukraine.

Chinese Defense Minister Gen. Li Shangfu held talks together with his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu after attending a gathering Sunday with Russian President Vladimir Putin within the Kremlin.

“The armed forces of China and Russia will implement the agreements reached by the heads of state and expand military cooperation, military-technical ties and arms trade,” Li stated in opening remarks at Tuesday’s assembly with Shoigu. “We will certainly take them to a new level.”

Li’s journey follows final month’s three-day state go to to the Russian capital by Chinese chief Xi Jinping, reflecting China’s strengthening engagement with Russia. Moscow and Beijing have carefully aligned their insurance policies in try and reshape the world order to decrease the affect of the United States and its Western allies.

China has refused to criticize Russia’s actions in Ukraine and blamed the U.S. and NATO for scary Moscow. Xi’s go to to Moscow gave a powerful political enhance to Putin, sending a message to Western leaders that their efforts to isolate Russia have fallen quick.

After the talks, Putin and Xi issued joint declarations pledging to additional bolster their “strategic cooperation,” develop cooperation in vitality, high-tech industries and different spheres and increase the usage of their currencies in mutual commerce to scale back dependence on the West.

PHOTOS: China's navy chief vows to bolster ties with Russia

After greater than a yr of combating in Ukraine and bruising Western sanctions, Russia’s dependence on China has elevated considerably. Facing Western restrictions on its oil, gasoline and different exports, Russia has shifted its vitality flows to China and sharply expanded different exports, leading to a 30% hike in bilateral commerce.

Last month, Putin and Xi additionally vowed to additional develop navy cooperation between Moscow and Beijing and conduct extra joint sea and air patrols. However, there was no point out of any potential Chinese weapons provides to Russia that the U.S. and different Western allies feared, and the Chinese overseas minister reaffirmed Friday that Beijing wouldn’t promote weapons to both facet within the battle in Ukraine.

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