Moscow - Russia and China called in a joint statement on Friday opposing further Nato expansion as the two countries move closer together in the face of Western pressure. Moscow said it fully supported Beijing's stance on Taiwan and opposed independence for the island.
The joint statement, was issued during Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to China for the Winter Olympics.
The Kremlin has said the talks between the leaders were "very warm" and constructive.
Russia’s Vladimir Putin and China’s Xi Jinping issued a joint statement highlighting what it called “interference in the internal affairs” of other states, as both leaders face criticism from Washington over their foreign and domestic policies.
However, the Russian-Chinese statement does not refer to Ukraine, the subject of escalating tension between Russia and the West.
Putin also unveiled a major new gas deal with China, a further sign of the deepening of the relationship between the two neighbours at a time of high tension in their relations with the West.
Russia has long been a key supplier of oil, gas and coal for China’s massive economy, now the world’s second largest, along with food stuffs and other raw materials.
The two countries expressed concern about "the advancement of U.S. plans to develop global missile defence and deploy its elements in various regions of the world, combined with capacity building of high-precision non-nuclear weapons for disarming strikes and other strategic objectives."
They said they opposed further enlargement of U.S.-led NATO and called on the alliance to abandon its "ideologized Cold War approaches".
Russia denied it was planning to fabricate an attack, and the US did not provide evidence to support the claim. News of the alleged plot came a day after the US said it was sending more troops to eastern Europe to support allies in the Nato defensive alliance.
Russia said the move was "destructive" and showed that its concerns about Nato's eastward expansion were justified.
China supports Russia's proposals to create legally binding security guarantees in Europe, the joint statement said.
The Kremlin said the presidents also discussed the need to broaden trade in national currencies because of unpredictability surrounding the use of the dollar.
Putin has also noted that Russia has been sharing highly sensitive military technologies with China that helped significantly bolster its defense capability.
U.S. President Joe Biden has said Russian companies could be cut off from the ability to trade in dollars as part of sanctions if Russia invades Ukraine.
-Reuters/BBC