Chinese leader Xi Jinping vowed to take his country’s ties with Russia to a new level this year in a video conference with counterpart Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, hours after the inauguration of US President Donald Trump.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has had a call with Chinese President Xi Jinping, emphasizing the two countries’ close ties, a day after Donald Trump was sworn in as the 47th U.S. president.

By Dmitry Antonov and Guy Faulconbridge MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russian President Vladimir Putin held a video call with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday in which he proposed further developing their strategic partnership just hours after Donald Trump was sworn in as the 47th president of the United States.

The ‘dear friends’ discuss Taiwan, the war in Ukraine, and future relations with the US, pledging to ‘defend their legitimate interests’

In the 1.5-hour video call, the leaders discussed the need to “cope with the uncertainty of the external environment”.

China, Russia seeking to deepen ties to ‘new level’ after Trump inauguration Heritage senior research fellow Steve Yates joined 'Fox & Friends First' to discuss the benefits of bolstering AI investment and how China's Xi and Russia's Putin are working to deepen bilateral ties after Trump's inauguration.