Destroyer Jinan of Chinese navy (front) and cruiser Varyag of Russian navy are seen during a joint naval exercise, Joint Sea 2022, in the East China Sea on Dec. 21, 2022. Chinese and Russian navies on Wednesday kicked off a joint naval exercise, Joint Sea 2022, in the East China Sea.(Photo: Xinhua)

Chinese State Councilor and Minister of National Defense Li Shangfu is scheduled to start his four-day visit to Russia on Sunday, his first foreign trip in his new position, with experts saying the trip will deepen bilateral military ties and contribute to peace and stability of major international and regional hotspot issues amid a complex security environment.

At the invitation of Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, Li will pay an official visit to Russia from Sunday to Wednesday, during which he will hold talks with Russian military leaders and visit Russian military academies, Senior Colonel Tan Kefei, a spokesperson at China's Ministry of National Defense, said in a press release on Friday.

China-Russia military ties have been kept at a high level under the strategic leadership of the two heads of state in recent years, as new progress has been made in strategic communication, joint exercises and pragmatic cooperation, continuously enriching the strategic connotations of the comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era between the two countries, Tan said.

Li and Shoigu are expected to discuss the status and prospects of bilateral cooperation in the defense sphere as well as topical global and regional security issues in their talks, according to a press release from Russia's Ministry of Defense on Friday.

This is Li's first foreign trip after he took position as China's Defense Minister in March.

Choosing Russia as the destination of Li's first foreign trip reflects the two countries' aspirations to deepen military mutual trust and enrich the strategic connotations of the comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era, Zhuo Hua, an international affairs expert at the School of International Relations and Diplomacy of Beijing Foreign Studies University, told the Global Times on Sunday.

It is also necessary for the two sides to exchange views and coordinate positions over major international and regional issues, so as to jointly contribute to safeguarding world peace and stability, Zhuo said.

As two major powers of key influences in international and regional security affairs, the two countries have maintained close and routine communication and cooperation, Zhuo said.

Over the past year, China and Russia conducted joint military drills including a joint naval exercise in the East China Sea, a joint naval patrol in the Pacific Ocean, two joint strategic air patrols over the Sea of Japan, the East China Sea and the West Pacific and the Vostok-2022 exercise in Russia.

Li's trip will highlight a high level of bilateral military ties, and the two countries are expected to have more mutually beneficial exchanges in many fields, including defense technologies and military exercises, Song Zhongping, a Chinese military expert and TV commentator, told the Global Times on Sunday.

Foreign media outlets, including a report by AP, speculatively connected Li's Russia visit to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, hyping so-called Chinese support to Russia.

The China-Russia joint military drills and defense cooperation are not linked to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and their goal is to safeguard peace and stability, analysts said.

China's position on the Ukraine crisis is to promote peace and negotiations, and China did not provide weapons to either side of the conflict like the US and the West do to add fuel to fire, Song said. 

The visit comes at a time when the US has been hyping stalled top-level China-US defense communications since the balloon incident in February, when the US shot down with an F-22 fighter jet a Chinese civilian unmanned airship which made an unintended entry into the US airspace due to force majeure.

This comes on top of US sanctions on Li before he became defense minister. When Li was in charge of China's Equipment Development Department of the Central Military Commission, the administration of then US president Donald Trump sanctioned him and the department in 2018 for purchasing Russian weapons, including Su-35 combat aircraft and S-400 surface-to-air missile systems, according to media reports.

If the US really wants to resume defense and military communication and talks with China, it must take action first, withdraw related sanctions and give up its strategy to contain China, analysts said.

This includes stop seeing China as an imaginary enemy, stop conducting close-in reconnaissance on China, not rallying up gangs and shifting NATO-like military mechanisms to the Asia-Pacific region, Song said.