China tells Russia willing to work together as 'great powers'

SAMARKAND: Chinese President Xi Jinping told his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Thursday that Beijing was willing to work with Moscow as "great powers" during his first trip overseas since the early days of the pandemic.

"China is willing to make efforts with Russia to assume the role of great powers, and play a guiding role to inject stability and positive energy into a world rocked by social turmoil," Xi told Putin during a leaders' summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.