The Chinese Defense Minister arrived in Moscow on Sunday April 16 for a three-day official visit, which kicked off with a bang with a working meeting with Vladimir Putin in person. Significant to say the least, in the current context.
With our correspondent in Moscow, Julian Colling
A visit to Russia by Li Shangfu is indeed far from trivial, a month after that of the Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
Because in the opinion of many observers, these two high-level trips, one after the other, hide behind the scenes an increasingly marked rapprochement between the military sectors of the two countries.
In addition to the respect shown to the Chinese Minister of Defense by the trip of Vladimir Putin himself to meet him, was also in the room his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu.
Li Shangfu said that in his view, the current Russian-Chinese ties ” go beyond the military-political alliances of the Cold War era “.
In Moscow, the eminent scholar of Sino-Russian relations Alexander Gabuev recently wrote an article for the journal Foreign Affairs on the subject. He writes that faced with the total breakdown of technological relations between the West and Russia, the latter has no choice but to concede to sell its most advanced systems to China. Like, for example, its fighter jet engines, or its S-500 ground-to-air defense systems.
A trend in any case very sensitive in the context of the war in Ukraine. kyiv has, in recent weeks, repeatedly expressed its concern about possible real military aid from Beijing to Moscow. An outcome that is even beyond doubt, according to CIA boss Williams Burns. According to the Ukrainian army, more and more Chinese parts are also found in the weapons and ammunition used by Russia.
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