China's Xi says trade with Russia expected to hit new records in the coming months
BEIJING — Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday emphasized his country's commitment to trading with Russia, despite Western sanctions against Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.
«Today our cooperation between Russia and China [is] rising,» Xi said, according to an official English translation carried by Russian state broadcaster RT. He cited Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to Beijing in early February.
«Trade over the first half of this year has been [in the tens of billions of U.S. dollars] and we can expect new records in upcoming months, which is a testament to the great cooperation between our two nations,» Xi said.
The Chinese leader was speaking via video at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum's plenary session, which Putin opened with a speech over an hour long.
The official Chinese state media readout of Xi's remarks did not mention «new records» in trade between China and Russia. The readout did call for the removal of trade barriers and greater cooperation with other countries, including Russia.
In both the Chinese readout and RT's translation, Xi emphasized how China's economic potential has not changed and talked about the further development of the Belt and Road Initiative.
Trade between China and Russia totaled $65.81 billion in the first five months of this year, up 28.9% from a year ago, according to China customs data. Most of the growth came from Chinese imports from Russia.
Beijing has refused to call Russia's attack on Ukraine an invasion. After a high-profile meeting between Xi and Putin in early February, a readout said there were «no limits» or «forbidden areas» of cooperation, without mentioning Ukraine.
Earlier this week, Xi said in a phone call with Putin that Kyiv and
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