BEIJING (Dispatches) -
Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu on Wednesday told the Russian Ambassador to China, Andrey Denisov that his country is willing to deepen cooperation with Russia within multilateral frameworks including the G20.
China is also willing to strengthen strategic coordination with Russia and expand practical cooperation in various fields, Ma told Denisov in a meeting on Tuesday, according to a statement from the Chinese foreign ministry.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that he planned to hold bilateral talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of an upcoming G20 ministerial meeting scheduled for this week in the resort island of Bali.
The top U.S. diplomat, however, is not going to meet with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, who is also attending the G20 gathering over the conflict in Ukraine.
Western governments have rolled out a slew of sanctions against Moscow over the war.
But other G20 members, including China, India, and the host Indonesia, have not followed suit.
Analysts say the meeting will be overshadowed by the conflict in Ukraine, and the host, Indonesia, will likely have to try to eliminate heightened tensions between the attendees.
Still, speaking ahead of the two-day meeting that runs on Thursday and Friday, German Foreign Ministry spokesperson Christian Wagner said it would not be a “normal summit” or “business as usual.”
A Group of 20 Leaders’ Summit will convene also in Bali, Indonesia, in 2022.