Chronologies
China - Russia
Chronology from May 2020 to Aug 2020
: Despite the pandemic, Russia poultry exports to China increase seven times over, amounting to 67% of Russia’s poultry exports. The increased export of Russian agricultural and meat products was the result of marked improvement of export infrastructure in Russia as a result of investments from both Russia and China.
: Chinese President Xi and Russian President Putin send greetings to the opening ceremony of Russian-Chinese Scientific, Technical and Innovative Cooperation 2020-2021.
: Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov chairs a consultation via videoconference with deputy foreign ministers/special representatives of the BRICS countries for the Middle East and North Africa. They issue a joint statement on the situation in the Middle East and North Africa.
: Chinese media reports that only 46% of Sino-Russian trade in the first quarter was done with US dollars, the lowest in history. 30% of bilateral trade was made with euros and 34% with Chinese yuan (RMB) and Russian rubles. Meanwhile, 15% of Russia’s foreign reserve was in RMB, which constituted a quarter of all RMB in the world held as foreign reserves.
: Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova criticizes US restrictions on the TikTok app for the purpose of dominating the international information space.
: US formally withdrew from the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty with Russia, claiming it undermines its national security interests. In February, Washington had announced that in six months it would suspend its participation in the treaty unless Moscow destroyed missiles, which the US and its NATO allies allege violate the agreement.
: Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson and head of the FM Information Bureau Hua Chunying holds videoconference with Russian counterpart Maria Zakharova, discussing cooperation in countering disinformation and fake news, particularly amid the pandemic.
: Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov tells a daily briefing that Russia won’t join any alliance against anyone, especially China, as Moscow and Beijing share special relations.
: Wang takes part in a telephone conversation with Lavrov, stressing the importance of prioritizing a Sino-Russian strategic partnership in each other’s foreign policy. Both criticize US unilateralism and exceptionalism.
: Lavrov describes, in the Primako Forum, US-China tensions and US accusations against China as “really alarming,” saying Russia “would not decline” to perform as “a balancing influence” between them.
: SCO health ministers hold their 3rd session via videoconference.
: Xi calls Putin, congratulating him on the successful constitutional amendments and discussing economic and tech cooperation while containing the pandemic.
: Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin speaks by telephone with Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu. They discussed cooperation in multilateral forums (UN) regarding Syria, Yemen, and the WHO.
: Putin sends a message to Xi, conveying his condolences over heavy flooding in southern China.
: Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov describes the US idea for an expanded G7 summit without China as “flawed.”
: Russia holds massive military parade in Moscow with more than 13,000 service personnel for the 75th anniversary of Nazi Germany’s capitulation in World War II. The event was rescheduled from its original date, on May 9 because of the COVID pandemic. 105 Chinese military honor guards join the parade together with 13 other countries.
: Putin proposes a summit of five permanent UNSC members in 2020 in his address to the World Holocaust Forum in Jerusalem.
: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Indian Minister of External Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi take part in a regular RIC videoconference. Lavrov proposes a trilateral defense ministerial meeting and China supported the idea.
: Russian Ambassador to China Andrey Denisov tells Russian media that the charge that China intentionally concealed information about the coronavirus was “groundless.”
: Chinese and Indian forces clash in the remote Galwan Valley in the Himalayas, resulting in at least 20 deaths on the Indian side.
: Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov speaks via telephone with Chinese Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Le Yucheng, discussing cooperation in countering the pandemic and plans to develop bilateral relations.
: Trilateral consultation between the Russian, US, and Chinese special representatives on Afghanistan affairs takes place by telephone. Russian Presidential Representative for Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov and a Pakistani representative also took part.
: Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov has a telephone conversation with Chinese Ambassador to Russia Zhang Hanhui, discussing Russian-Chinese relations and cooperation between Russia’s Eurasian integration project and China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
: Chinese Foreign Minister spokesman Zhao Lijian says that China “respects and understands Russia’s effort to safeguard its national security efforts,” referring to Putin’s endorsement of Russia’s nuclear deterrent policy, which allows Russia to use nuclear weapons in response to a conventional strike against the nation’s critical government and military infrastructure.
: Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova tells RIA Novosti news agency that President Trump’s suggestion of an expanded G7 session including Russia “is right in principle,” but “could not be a success without China’s participation.”
: President Trump says that he planned to postpone the annual G7 summit until September and that he wanted to invite Russia to rejoin and to discuss the future of China.
: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says in the CIS foreign minister conference that “the Hong Kong issue is completely one of China’s domestic politics.”
: Russian Ambassador to China Andrey Denisov says in a news briefing that Russia is “carefully studying China’s large-scale measures” for both pandemic control and economic stimulation.
: Russia chairs a four-party videoconference with China, Iran, and Pakistan on Afghanistan.
: Lin Songtian, appointed head of the Chinese Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, meets Russian Ambassador Andrey Denisov in Beijing to discuss cooperation in dealing with COVID and the 75th anniversary of Russia’s Great Patriotic War.
: Eight SCO foreign ministers hold videoconference and discuss the coronavirus pandemic. They also discuss an action plan to ensure sanitary, epidemiological safety and biosafety to be discussed in the SCO summit to be held this year in St. Petersburg.
: President Xi Jinping initiates a telephone call with President Vladimir Putin, congratulating him on the 75th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War. The two heads of state also agreed to resume high-level visits after the pandemic.