Lavrov: Russia and China Maintain Equal Strategic Partnership

By Staff, Agencies

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Russia and China have built an equal and strategic partnership in which neither side withholds technology from the other, rejecting suggestions that Moscow could become Beijing’s “junior partner.”

Speaking to the online project Sama Menshova on Tuesday, Lavrov said the absence of technological secrecy between the two countries reflected the balanced and mutually beneficial nature of their comprehensive strategic partnership.

Lavrov praised China as a leading technological power in both applied and theoretical sciences, pointing to its production of high-tech goods, advances in robotics, and development of reusable spacecraft.

He said Russia’s own scientific capabilities remained strong and that the two countries’ technological strengths were complementary.

He cited joint projects in space exploration, advanced technologies, and artificial intelligence as examples of their growing cooperation.

The partnership is also expanding in the transport sector. Russia’s Transport Ministry said Tuesday that maritime cargo traffic between Russian and Chinese ports rose 19.2% year-on-year in the first half of 2026, reaching 109.5 million tonnes.

The ministry said maritime cargo volumes had already increased by 4.3% across 2025, reaching 196.75 million tonnes, before accelerating further during the first half of this year.

Overall trade between the two countries has also expanded rapidly. China’s General Administration of Customs reported that Russia-China trade rose 28.4% in the first eight months of 2026 to $185 billion.

Chinese exports to Russia reached $84.675 billion, up 30.7%, while Russian exports to China rose 26.5% to $100.37 billion. The figures left Russia with a trade surplus of more than $15.6 billion during the eight-month period.