On December 18, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi made a phone call with Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov at the latter's request.

Wang Yi said, the year 2019 is coming to an end. Under the guidance of the two heads of state, China and Russia held a series of activities to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations, and pushed the Sino-Russian comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership into a new era. Our mutual trust is becoming increasingly unbreakable, and our relations are becoming more and more rock-solid. There will be many major events in bilateral relations next year. The foreign ministries of the two countries should conscientiously cooperate and design and prepare for major activities such as exchanges between the heads of state of the two countries, so as to add more stability and positive energy for this world which is undergoing profound changes unseen in a century.

Wang Yi said, the United Nations is the most important international platform for China and Russia to carry out strategic cooperation and safeguard international fairness and justice. China is willing to continue to coordinate closely with Russia, support each other, and shoulder the important responsibility of maintaining international peace and stability.

Lavrov congratulated China on the 20th anniversary of Macao's return. He said, Russia highly values the important progress made in Russian-Chinese relations this year, and is willing to continue close high-level exchanges with China and deepen strategic cooperation within the multilateral framework such as the United Nations. No one or force can provoke the strategic mutual trust between Russia and China.

The two sides also briefed each other on recent important diplomatic activities, exchanged views on Security Council affairs, the situation on the Korean peninsula, and international and regional strategic stability, and coordinated their positions.