BEIJING — China is willing to enrich the strategic connotation of its relations with Russia in the new era and promote bilateral comprehensive strategic coordination to a higher level, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Nov 18.

In a phone conversation with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Wang congratulated the Russian side on successfully hosting the meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the BRICS summit via video link which have achieved fruitful results.

Caught between the most serious pandemic in the past century and momentous changes never seen in the last 100 years, the global political and economic situation and international order are facing a strong impact, Wang said, noting that for this reason, China and Russia have attached more importance to strengthening strategic cooperation than ever before and played a mainstay role amid international changes.

The two countries have insisted on running their own affairs well, and successfully completed their respective domestic political agendas, he said, adding that China and Russia have jointly defended multilateralism and international fairness and justice, keeping the bottom line of the basic norms of international law and relations.

The two countries have also actively participated in international anti-pandemic cooperation and promoted political settlement of various regional hot issues, and played a role of the global stabilizer, Wang said, noting that China-Russia strategic coordination has continuously achieved new results.

The China-Russia relations have withstood the test of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Wang said, adding that mutual trust between the two countries has been deepened continuously and bilateral trade has stopped falling and rebounded.

Noting that the China-Russia Year of Scientific and Technological Innovation has been launched successfully, Wang said that the people-to-people relations between China and Russia have been strengthened continuously and bilateral ties are facing new development opportunities.

China is willing to maintain high-level exchanges with Russia, and promote bilateral comprehensive strategic coordination to a higher level, with next year's celebration of the 20th anniversary of the signing of the China-Russia Treaty of Good-neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation as the main line, Wang said.

China is willing to stand shoulder to shoulder with Russia to jointly deal with the impact of unilateralism, protectionism and bullying on international relations and order, safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the two countries, as well as international fairness and justice, Wang said.

Both sides should further strengthen their communication and coordination, fully tap respective advantages, and help regional countries deal with such urgent issues as fighting the pandemic, maintaining stability and restoring the economy, he added.

For his part, Lavrov said despite the raging pandemic, Russia-China relations have continued to move forward rapidly, which reflects the high level of bilateral ties.

Russia congratulates China on its great achievements in fighting the pandemic, and is willing to maintain high-level exchanges with China, ensure the success of the Russia-China Year of Scientific and Technological Innovation, and promote the practical cooperation between the two countries in various fields to continuously achieve new results, he said.

Noting that Russia supports the dovetailing of the Eurasian Economic Union and the Belt and Road Initiative, Lavrov said that Russia is ready to coordinate closely with China on multilateral platforms such as the United Nations, the UN Security Council, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the BRICS mechanism, jointly safeguard the stability of the international and regional situation, support countries in the region in their fight against extremism and support the ASEAN-centered East Asian regional cooperation framework.

The two sides also exchanged in-depth views on international and regional issues of common concern.