CHINESE President Xi Jinping met Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Tuesday in a sign of mutual support.

The visit took place as China slammed an attack on the health of its economy. 

Russian media reported that Mr Lavrov told President Xi: “We would like to express our highest appreciation and admiration for the successes that you have achieved over the years and, above all, over the last decade under your leadership.

“We are sincerely pleased with these successes, since these are the successes of friends, although not everyone in the world shares this attitude and are trying in every possible way to restrain the development of China — in fact just like the development of Russia.”

Earlier on Tuesday Mr Lavrov held a joint news conference with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, during which they reaffirmed solidarity in international affairs.

Mr Lavrov said that Russia and China oppose any international events that do not take Russia’s position into account.

He said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s “so-called peace formula” was “completely detached from any realities.”

President Zelensky has called for the withdrawal of Russian forces and the return of all occupied Ukrainian territory, but is heavily reliant on support from the United States, where the Republican Party majority in the House of Representatives has blocked a new military aid package.

Mr Wang repeated China’s calls for a ceasefire and “an end to the war soon.”

He said: “China supports the convening at an appropriate time of an international meeting that is recognised by both Russia and Ukraine, in which all parties can participate equally and discuss all peace solutions fairly.”

Mr Wang also said: “Today’s good relations between China and Russia are hard-won and deserve to be cherished and carefully maintained by both sides.”

As leaders from the two countries met, China’s Finance Ministry was forced to hit back at a report by Fitch Ratings that kept the Chinese sovereign debt rated at A+ but downgraded its outlook to negative.

The Finance Ministry said it was a “pity” that Fitch had downgraded its sovereign debt and faulted its methods, saying it had failed to take into account Beijing’s moves toward “appropriately intensifying, improving quality and efficiency” of its government spending.

“In the long run, maintaining a moderate deficit and making good use of precious debt funds will help expand domestic demand, support economic growth, and ultimately help maintain good sovereign credit,” the ministry said.