China Willing to Strengthen Military Cooperation With Russia, Defense Ministry Says

Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin enter a hall during a meeting at the Kremlin on March 21, 2023. (Alexey Maishev/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images)

The Chinese military will work jointly with the Russian military to pursue international security objectives and promote a shared vision for a new world order, according to China’s defense ministry.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is willing to work with Russian President Vladimir Putin to implement global security initiatives, Tan Kefei, a spokesperson for the CCP’s Ministry of National Defense, said on March 30.

“The Sino–Russian friendship has grown stronger over time,” he said.

“The Chinese military is willing to work together with the Russian military to fully implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state ... [and] organize regular joint maritime and air patrols and exercises and training, and to strengthen various exchanges and cooperation between the two militaries.”

Tan’s comments follow closely behind a meeting between Putin and CCP leader Xi Jinping in Moscow earlier in the month. There, the two leaders reaffirmed their “no-limits” partnership and vowed to recreate the international order in their own image.

At the time, Putin said China and Russia would create a more just “multipolar world order” to replace the “rules” of the current international order.

On March 21, the two signed a joint declaration to deepen their nations’ “comprehensive strategic partnership.”

Tan said the two nations would continue that work by endeavoring to “deepen mutual military trust” and to “transcend” the model of “Cold War alliances” by going beyond mere political or military alignment, suggesting a more whole-of-society partnership between the two states.

The partnership also appears to have global ambitions.

To that end, Tan said communist China and Russia would “join hands to implement global security initiatives” in order to “continue to make new contributions to maintaining international and regional security and stability, and serving the building of a community of common destiny for mankind.”

The “community of common destiny” is a key part of Chinese communist propaganda and has been frequently invoked by Xi since assuming control of the Party in 2012.

It’s commonly understood that the CCP slogan is intended to presage the eventual displacement of the current international order with a Marxist-Leninist order headed by and dependent on the regime in Beijing.

“The Chinese Communist Party insists on making the Chinese people and the people of all countries to have the same destiny,” Xi said in a 2021 speech to Party leaders. “[The CCP] is progressing the development and prosperity of all countries [in the world].

“We should take the responsibility of guiding the direction [of human development]. [We should] manage and shape mankind’s common future. We should take high responsibility for [directing] humanity’s future and fate.”