China, Russia should safeguard security, development interests, says Xi

BEIJING (Reuters) -China and Russia should jointly safeguard their security and development interests, Chinese President Xi Jinping told the visiting Russian parliament speaker on Tuesday, in their efforts to build a more "equitable" international order.

The two sides should continue their traditional friendship and deepen strategic mutual trust, state-run Xinhua news agency quoted Xi as saying.

U.S. President Donald Trump said earlier this week that he might impose "massive" sanctions on Russia in two weeks depending on whether progress was possible in his bid to end Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Trump held a summit with President Vladimir Putin in Alaska earlier this month, but has been unable to coax him into a meeting with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

On Monday, Trump said China had to give the United States rare earth magnets or "we have to charge them 200% tariff or something".

Vyacheslav Volodin, chairman of Russia's lower house of parliament the State Duma, arrived in China on Monday ahead of Putin's visit to China this weekend, where he will cross paths with tens of Global South world leaders, including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, at a security forum.

Indian exporters are bracing for additional 25% U.S. tariffs from Wednesday as punishment for New Delhi's purchases of Russian oil.

Russia and China should "unite" the countries in the Global South, Xi told Volodin, a key domestic ally of Putin's.

Putin will also be the principal foreign guest of honour at a military parade in Beijing next week marking the formal surrender of Japan and the end of World War Two.

Ahead of what is set to be a massive public showcase of China's modernising armed forces, Beijing has mounted a campaign saying China and the former Soviet Union played a pivotal role in the Asian and European theatres during World War Two.

China-Russia relations serve as a "source of stability for world peace", said Xi.

(Reporting by Ryan Woo; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Kate Mayberry)

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