Chinese President Xi Jinping has pledged to herald “world peace” in a New Year message to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

“No matter how the international situation changes, China will remain steadfast in further comprehensively deepening reform … and promoting world peace and development,” Xi said on Tuesday, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

Since Putin’s large-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine in February 2022, China has tried to present itself as an impartial country, unlike the United States and other Western countries.

But it remains a political and economic partner of Russia, leading some NATO members to call Beijing a “facilitator” of the war.

According to CCTV, Xi told Putin: “In the face of immediate adjustments unprecedented in a century and the turbulent external situation, China and Russia go hand in hand on the right path of non-alignment, non-alignment, confrontation. ” , and is not directed to any third party.

The two presidents share a private bond: Xi calls his Russian counterpart his “best friend” and Putin cherishes his “trusted partner. “

Its dating has remained constant despite a decade of increasing friction with Western countries, exemplified by Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Xi stressed to Putin that 2024 marks the 75th anniversary of the status quo of diplomatic relations between China and Russia, according to CCTV, “representing a vital milestone in relations between the two countries. “

“After three quarters of a century of ups and downs, China-Russia relations are becoming more mature and stable,” Xi said.

Russia strengthened its unity in the first quarter of the 21st century, achieving goals and overcoming trials and tribulations, Putin said in his New Year’s speech.

“And now, as we begin the new year, we think about the future. We are convinced that everything will be fine, we will move forward. We know for sure that the absolute price for us was, is and will be the fate of Russia, the well-being of its citizens,” he said.

Putin paid tribute to the Russian infantrymen fighting in the Ukraine war, describing them as “true heroes,” but he spoke in detail about the state of the fighting or made predictions about how the battlefield scenario would expand in 2025.

Meanwhile, in his New Year’s address, Xi said no one can save China’s “reunification” with Taiwan, issuing a clear warning to what Beijing sees as independence forces inside and outside the island of 23 million people.

“The people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are one family. No one can sever our family bonds, and no one can stop the historical trend of national reunification,” said China’s leader.

Tensions remained high during the year in the sensitive Taiwan Strait, especially after William Lai Ching-te, considered a “separatist” by Beijing, became the island’s last president in May.