August M
China and Russia have presented a united front after high-level talks in Moscow, declaring what Beijing called a “broad consensus” on regional security.
As Beijing and Moscow intensify their diplomatic activity, the two powers are underscoring a shared stance on security challenges in Asia.
Their show of alignment comes while multiple international efforts continue to seek an end to the war in Ukraine.
Strategic alignment
According to Reuters, China and Russia said they reached a “broad consensus” during the talks.
Beijing’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, told his counterpart Sergei Lavrov that both countries must “continue to coordinate and cooperate to resolutely subdue the provocative actions of Japanese far-right forces that undermine regional peace and stability, as well as attempts at remilitarization,” citing a Chinese Foreign Ministry statement released Wednesday.
The remarks land amid the sharpest diplomatic rift in years between Beijing and Tokyo, triggered after Japan’s new prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, said last month that a potential Chinese attack on Taiwan could prompt a military response. Although Takaichi is viewed as ultraconservative rather than far-right, her comments prompted swift anger in Beijing.
Efforts by Tokyo to ease tensions have done little to calm the situation. Japan has advised its citizens in China to take precautions, while Beijing has warned against travel to Japan and restricted imports of popular Japanese goods.
Rising frictions
Wang also met Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu, with the Chinese Foreign Ministry saying both sides “achieved strategic alignment on issues involving Japan and reached a high level of consensus.”
The statement follows a period in which relations between Japan and Russia have deteriorated over Tokyo’s support for Western sanctions on Moscow after the invasion of Ukraine notes Hotnews.
Long-standing disputes have also resurfaced. The two nations never signed a peace treaty after World War II, and disagreements persist over the Kuril Islands — territory seized by the Soviet Union in the war’s final days despite a 1941 non-aggression pact.
Japan renounced sovereignty over parts of the archipelago in the 1951 San Francisco Treaty but maintains that the southern islands were not included.
Russian officials, meanwhile, have escalated their rhetoric: President Vladimir Putin has spoken of promoting tourism there, and former president Dmitry Medvedev last year attacked Tokyo’s leadership, suggesting officials should commit seppuku over their stance.
Heated warnings
More recently, Dmitry Patrushev, former chairman of Russia’s Security Council, accused Japan of pursuing militarization aimed at Russia and China.
In an interview published in September, he claimed without evidence that NATO planned to use Japan’s fleet for global combat operations.
According to Hotnews, he told Argumenty i Fakty: “We would like to believe that common sense will prevail among the Japanese elites and that they will stop pursuing a suicidal policy of militarization and arms-building against two of the most powerful neighboring states — Russia and China. But as long as this continues, we certainly cannot stand aside without reacting.”
Sources: Reuters, Hotnews
