- Trade between China and Russia trade has jumped 30% so far this year, China's vice foreign minister said.
- However, much of the surge happened before Russia invaded Ukraine, according to Bloomberg.
- China has also snapped up Russian coal at a steep discount while others like Japan and the EU have banned the import.
Trade between China and Russia dipped after Moscow launched its war on Ukraine, but it remains strong overall.
So far this year, trade has grown 30% between China and Russia, though much of the surge occurred before Putin invaded Ukraine, Bloomberg reported. Chinese exports to Russia slumped 7.7% in March even as its total shipments to other countries increased.
In a Monday meeting with Russian envoy Andrey Ivanoovich Denisov in Beijing, China's Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng said the climb in trade shows "the great resilience and internal dynamism of bilateral cooperation" and called for those ties to deepen, according to a government statement.
Denisov, for his part, said he views the relationship between the two nations as a priority, the statement said.
While Western nations continue to shun Moscow, Russian energy remains in high demand. China has more than doubled imports of steel-making coal from Russia in March, according to Bloomberg, and the purchases have come at a steep discount.
Other buyers like Japan and the European Union, on the other hand, have moved to ban imports of the commodity amid war in Ukraine.
"No matter how the international landscape may change, China will continue to strengthen strategic coordination with Russia for win-win cooperation, jointly safeguard the common interests of the two countries and prompt the building of a new type of international relations and a community with a shared future of mankind," Le said in a statement released Tuesday.