Russia, China unveil alliance in Beijing

Russia’s relations with the West may be strained, but in the East, they are flourishing.

President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping met for talks in Beijing on Friday (February 4) where they pledged support for one other.

The pair issued a joint statement calling for NATO to halt its expansion - a further sign of the deepening of the relationship between the two neighbors.

The joint statement included harsh criticism of the United States.

It said Russia and China opposed further enlargement of U.S.-led NATO and called on the alliance to abandon its "ideologized Cold War approaches."

A halt to NATO's eastwards addition of new member states is a key demand of the Kremlin in its standoff with the West over Ukraine.

The Kremlin said the talks were “warm and substantive”, describing their relationship as an advanced partnership with a special character.

"As for our bilateral relations, they are developing linearly with the spirit of friendship and strategic partnership and have reached an unprecedented level. They are an example of upstanding relations which help both sides to develop and support each other at the same time."

Putin, who is in Beijing to attend the Winter Olympics, also unveiled a new major gas deal with China, reducing its dependence on its traditional European energy customers.

The joint statement also said Moscow fully supported Beijing's stance on Taiwan and opposed Taiwanese independence in any form.

Chinese State media reported Xi said China and Russia would "resolutely" support each other in defending core interests and would deepen strategic coordination.

Xi also said Chinese-Russian strategic cooperation was "unshakable, past, present and future.”