China's Foreign Ministry announced on September 9 that Foreign Minister Wang Yi will visit Russia for a security meeting in St. Petersburg this week of BRICS group officials, with the visit and joint military exercises in the western Pacific underscoring Beijing and Moscow's cooperation on the international stage.
Moscow has increasingly looked to Beijing for diplomatic and economic support since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, sparking unprecedented international sanctions against Russia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin's office said last week it expects Chinese leader Xi Jinping to attend a BRICS summit in Kazan, southern Russia, in late October.
BRICS unites Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa and has expanded since its founding to include other major emerging economies including the United Arab Emirates and Iran.
Also on September 9, China's official Xinhua news agency said Russian air and naval forces would be joining a Chinese military exercise this month in the Sea of Japan and Sea of Okhotsk, in the western Pacific.
The Chinese report said the joint exercise would help boost "the level of strategic coordination between the Chinese and Russian militaries and enhance their ability to jointly respond to security threats."
Western leaders have tried hard to discourage China from providing Russia with weapons, artillery, or any other military support for Moscow's ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry said Wang was invited to the meeting on September 11-12 of BRICS "high-ranking officials responsible for security matters" by former Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.
Moscow and Beijing inked a "no limits" partnership weeks before Russia's all-out invasion of Ukraine began, and Putin and Xi have each argued for demolition of U.S. "hegemony."