Russia and China alert to Western ‘games’

GBNEWS24DESK//

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said yesterday that the United States was attempting to “contain” both Russia and China with the help of other countries, but they were alert to its “games”.

Lavrov told a news conference that the West saw both countries as a threat – Russia right now, and China in the longer term as a systemic rival.

He said Washington was not powerful enough to keep in check both countries at once, so was mobilising Europe, Japan and others to join it.

At the same time, he said, the West was trying to drive a wedge between Russia and China. “The West is trying to sow discord in our relations…We and China see all these games,” he said.

His comments underlined the strategic importance to Moscow of its relationship with China at a time when its army is struggling in Ukraine and its economic links with the West have been wrecked by successive waves of sanctions.

Ties with Beijing had never been stronger, Lavrov said, and the two countries were shifting an increasing amount of their trade into their national currencies to reduce dependence on the West and exposure to sanctions.