China’s top diplomat on Monday began several days of security consultations with Russian officials following his weekend talks with US President Joe Biden’s national security adviser in Malta.

Foreign minister Wang Yi, who simultaneously holds the ruling Communist Party’s top foreign policy post, will be in Russia till Thursday for strategic security consultations, the foreign ministry said in a brief statement.

Wang opened his talks with Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov by hailing “strategic cooperation” between the two countries and their shared commitment to a “multipolar world” and a “more just world order”, terms Moscow and Beijing use to describe their efforts to counterbalance the perceived US domination of global affairs.

“China and Russia, as leading global powers and permanent members of the UN Security Council, bear special responsibility for maintaining global strategic stability and global development,” Wang said. “The more violent the unilateral actions of hegemony and bloc confrontation become, the more important for us to keep up with the times, show a sense of duty as great powers, and further fulfil our international obligations.”

He stressed that Russia-China cooperation “isn’t directed against anyone and isn’t influenced by any other countries”.

Lavrov emphasised “the importance of Russian-Chinese cooperation for ensuring justice in world affairs, for ensuring a balance of interests in the processes that are developing in a variety of directions”. He noted that Russia and China will coordinate their efforts during this week’s UN General Assembly.

The US and China are at odds over Russia’s military action in Ukraine.