Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Sunday called on China and Russia to jointly uphold multilateralism and oppose hegemony.

Wang made the remarks when he attended a reception marking the 20th anniversary of the signing of the China-Russia Treaty of Good-neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation, an event in Beijing also attended by Russian Ambassador to China Andrey Denisov.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a joint statement on June 28, officially extending the treaty. 

Wang said China and Russia should support multilateralism, oppose hegemony and power politics, boycott any new Cold War or clique confrontation, continue to safeguard the international system with the United Nations at its core and the international order based on international law to promote multi-polarization in the world and democratization of international relations. 

He said both sides should boost mutual political trust, expand exchanges of all levels, reinforce the back-to-back and shoulder-to-shoulder strategic collaborations, and jointly safeguard both countries' core interests and security and stability around the two countries so as to elevate the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era to a higher level.  

He hails the relations between the two neighbors as being "better than allies, though not allies." 

China and Russia will also further promote the alignment of the Belt and Road Initiative with the Eurasian Economic Union and expand cooperation in low-carbon energy, digital economy, agriculture, vaccines and other fields, said Wang.  

Reviewing the economic cooperation over the past two decades, Wang said bilateral trade had surged nearly 14 times, from $8 billion in 2000 to $107.77 billion in 2020.  

Denisov spoke highly of the treaty, saying it has laid a solid foundation for the stable development of the bilateral relations, and helped bring the Russia-China comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era to the highest level ever.  

Both sides will stick to the spirit of the treaty, he said, vowing Russia will work together with China to realize new and greater goals set up by the extension of the treaty. 

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(Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi speaks at a reception marking the 20th anniversary of the signing of the China-Russia Treaty of Good-neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation in Beijing, July 11, 2021. /Chinese Foreign Ministry)