India, May 28 -- The Chinese military will press ahead with closer cooperation with Russia and stand firmly behind Moscow on questions touching its most important interests, a Defense Ministry spokesman said on Thursday, putting a military stamp on the partnership that Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin renewed in this city only days earlier.

Speaking at a regular briefing, ministry spokesman Jiang Bin framed the pledge as a direct outgrowth of the understandings the two presidents reached during Putin's state visit on May 19 and 20. The Chinese armed forces, he said, would work with the Russian side to carry out the agreements struck by the two heads of state, continually enrich and deepen the substance of their cooperation, and firmly supp...