Chinese leader Xi Jinping heralded a new year of growing coordination with Russia during a call with counterpart Vladimir Putin on Thursday that comes as the two countries continue to cement their partnership amid frictions with the West.

Xi told Putin the two sides should “strengthen strategic coordination” and “safeguard the national sovereignty, security and development interests of their respective countries,” according to a readout from China’s Foreign Ministry.

They should also “resolutely oppose external interference in their internal affairs,” Xi said, in an apparent reference to the two leaders’ shared suspicions about the activities of Western governments.

The call, which comes ahead of China’s Lunar New Year on Saturday, is the latest robust exchange between the two leaders, who are seen to have a warm personal relationship and share an aim of pushing back against what they see as a world unfairly dominated by the United States.

Their strengthening relationship in recent years has been closely watched by Western governments, in particular amid concerns that China could support Putin’s grinding war in Ukraine.

China claims impartiality in that conflict but has refused to condemn the illegal invasion and acted as an increasingly critical lifeline for the sanctions-hit Russian economy.

“We have withstood many trials and tribulations together (in the past). Looking to the future, China-Russia relations face new development opportunities,” Xi told Putin during their call.

The leaders also had a “detailed exchange” on the situation in several regions, including the Middle East, and discussed “the current situation” in Ukraine, according to a readout from the Kremlin.

In the Middle East, “both Russia and China support a political and diplomatic settlement of the Palestinian problem within the generally recognized framework of international law,” the Kremlin statement said.

The Chinese readout did not name Ukraine or the Middle East, where instability is growing on the back of the on-going conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. It said the two sides discussed “international and regional hot-spot issues.”

Beijing has criticized Israel’s response to Hamas’ October 7 terror attack, and has backed a two-state solution to establish an independent Palestinian state as a way to resolve the conflict.

Both Beijing and Moscow are seen to have increased their coordination on international issues in forums like the United Nations in recent years, while also building separate international groupings where they hold sway such as BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

Xi and Putin both called for further enhancing their international “multilateral” coordination during the call, the readouts said, mentioning the BRICS and SCO, both of which have expanded their membership over the past year. Russia assumed the rotating annual chair of BRICS earlier this year.

“Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping specifically stressed that close Russia-China interaction is an important stabilizing factor in world affairs,” the Kremlin readout said.

The leaders also hailed record trade, which last year exceeded a target of $200 billion ahead of schedule. Those ties have been buoyed by discount Russian oil purchases from China and sanctions-hit Russia’s increasing reliance on Chinese consumer goods amid its economic isolation.

Putin also praised the Russia-China trade relationship during an interview with American right-wing pundit Tucker Carlson published Thursday.

“Our trade is well-balanced, mutually complementary in high-tech, energy, scientific research and development,” Putin said in his remarks, where he referred to Xi as a “colleague and friend,” according to a translation provided by Carlson.

Thursday’s phone conversation between Xi and Putin took place as the two countries celebrate 75 years of diplomatic relations this year.

Last year, Xi made his symbolically significant first foreign trip of his third term as president to Moscow last March. Putin made one of just a handful of overseas trips since the start of the war in Ukraine to Beijing in October.

Xi and Putin accuse US of 'interference' in call

Xi and Putin denounced US 'interference' in their call, the Kremlin said.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin accused the United States of "interfering" in their countries' affairs during a telephone call on Thursday, the Kremlin said.

The West has viewed Moscow and Beijing, both of whom are seeking to expand their global influence, with increased anxiety over the past two years as they ramp up ties in trade and defence.

Xi and Putin denounced the "US policy of interfering in the internal affairs of other states" during an hour-long call, the Kremlin said.

"The leaders of the two countries realise that the US is practically implementing a policy of double containment, (toward) both Russia and China," Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said.

Moscow has looked to Beijing as a crucial economic lifeline since the West hit Russia with unprecedented sanctions over its military assault on Ukraine.

China has meanwhile benefited from cheap Russian energy imports and access to vast natural resources, including steady gas shipments via the Power of Siberia pipeline.

Trade between the two countries has surged in the last two years, hitting $240.1 billion in 2023 -- a 26 percent annual increase -- according to Chinese customs data.

- 'No limits' -

Beijing and Moscow declared a "no limits" partnership days before Russia launched its full-scale military assault on Ukraine, and the two have expanded ties even as most Western countries turned their back on Moscow.

China has itself been criticised, notably by the United States, over a number of thorny issues, including increasingly belligerent behaviour toward self-ruled democratic Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its territory.

"In discussing the situation in the Asia-Pacific region, the Russian President reaffirmed his principled position on the Taiwan issue, which is to support the 'one China' policy," the Kremlin said in its statement about the call.

Xi said the two "should closely collaborate strategically, defend the sovereignty, security and development interests of their respective countries, and resolutely oppose interference in internal affairs by external forces", according to a readout from Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.

The Chinese leader also wished Putin well in his coming presidential election, according to the Kremlin.

"Xi said he knows that Russia is now in the midst of an election campaign and wished the upcoming elections in March to be successful," Ushakov said.

Putin, who has faced isolation from most Western countries over the conflict in Ukraine, met with Xi in a rare trip abroad to Beijing last October.