Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday, Chinese state media said, as a string of leaders from war-torn countries in the Middle East flocked to Beijing.
Lavrov joins Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Vietnamese leader To Lam in meeting with Xi this week.
The Russian diplomat told a news conference after meeting Xi that Moscow could “compensate” for China’s energy shortages, as shipping through the Strait of Hormuz remains choked by the war in Iran.
Xi, meanwhile, has sought to position China as a mediator and stable partner in the face of the US-Israeli-led conflict.
Xi told Abu Dhabi’s crown prince on Tuesday that China would play a “constructive role” in promoting Middle East peace talks.
In talks with Spain’s Sanchez, Xi warned the world was facing “chaos and turmoil” and “a race between justice and force”, calling for closer cooperation.
Meanwhile, the Spanish Prime Minister welcomed China’s role in trying to resolve the conflict in the Middle East.
Although the level of diplomatic activity is normal for Beijing, the war in the Middle East and especially the issue of energy security have taken on a new urgency in diplomatic discussions, according to Dylan Loh, associate professor at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University.
“China has power and influence over Iran, and there are some hopes and expectations that China can use that influence in a more direct way,” Loh said.
Countries, especially in the Persian Gulf, may hope that China can pressure Iran to stop its attacks on Gulf countries and continue with diplomatic negotiations, he said.
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The string of visitors “proves that various actors are adjusting to the realities of an uncertain world. Engagement with the PRC, including areas of difference, is part of that adjustment,” according to Ja Ian Chong, a political scientist at the National University of Singapore.
While many of the visits were likely planned before the Middle East crisis, those by Gulf representatives and Lavrov “look more like a direct result of the conflict and the desire to de-escalate,” Chong said.
Lavrov, who is on a two-day visit to China to boost bilateral ties, said Russia could help China with energy resources after blocking the Strait of Hormuz.
China is a net importer of oil and has seen gasoline, plastic and fertilizer prices rise because of the war.
“Russia, without a doubt, can compensate for the lack of resources that has arisen both for the PRC and for other countries that are interested in working with us,” Lavrov said during a press conference in Beijing, Russian state media reported on Wednesday.
But “the interests of Moscow and Beijing may diverge somewhat in the Iran war,” according to Chong.
High energy prices are devastating to China’s economy, but could help Moscow finance its war in Ukraine, Chong said.
During his meeting with Lavrov in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, Xi urged China and Russia to “give full play to the advantages of geographical proximity and complementarity, deepen comprehensive cooperation and enhance the sustainability of each other’s development,” according to a readout by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.
“Both sides should maintain strategic focus, trust each other, support each other, develop together,” Xi said.
Lavrov told Xi that China-Russia relations “play a stabilizing role in world affairs,” according to Russian state news agencies.
On Tuesday, Lavrov and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi “held in-depth exchanges on the US-Iran conflict, the Asia-Pacific situation, the Ukraine crisis” and other issues, according to the Chinese foreign ministry.
They also discussed plans for a meeting between Putin and Xi, which Lavrov said would take place in the first half of this year.
Beijing and Moscow are close economic and political partners, and the relationship has deepened further since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
