TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search resultsRussia ready to help China with energy ahead of Putin's visit, Lavrov says
The agencies quoted Lavrov as saying that the visit would take place in the first half of the year, while the Vedomosti newspaper cited sources as saying it would be during the week beginning May 18.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi (right) shakes hands with Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during a ministerial meeting on the sidelines of the 57th Association of southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Foreign Ministers' Meeting and Related Meetings in Vientiane on July 25, 2024. (AFP/Tang Chinn Sothy)
R
ussia is ready to increase energy supplies to China ahead of an expected visit by President Vladimir Putin, Russian news agencies quoted Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying on Wednesday at a news conference in Beijing.
The agencies quoted Lavrov as saying that the visit would take place in the first half of the year, while the Vedomosti newspaper cited sources as saying it would be during the week beginning May 18.
President Xi Jinping met Lavrov on Wednesday, assuring Moscow of China's friendship and saying that China and Russia must trust and support each other, deepen cooperation, and defend each other's interests.
Lavrov told the news conference that Russia was ready to help China and other countries affected by the Middle East crisis with energy supplies.
"Russia can, of course, make up for the resource shortfall facing both China and other countries that are interested in working with us on an equal and mutually beneficial basis," Lavrov told the news conference in China.
Lavrov also said that Russia and China had all the necessary means to avoid reliance on what he described as US efforts to disrupt global energy markets through conflict in the Middle East.
Lavrov joins Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, Abu Dhabi's Crown Prince Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Vietnamese leader To Lam in meeting with Xi this week.
Though the level of diplomatic activity is normal for Beijing, the Middle East war and particularly the issue of energy security have taken on new urgency in diplomatic discussions, according to Dylan Loh, associate professor at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University.
"China has got leverage and influence over Iran, and there are some hopes and expectations that China can use this influence in a more direct way," Loh said.
