A top Chinese military official visits Moscow for talks on expanding ties

MOSCOW (AP) — A senior Chinese military official is visiting Moscow and is hailing strong ties between the countries during a trip that underlined growing cooperation between them. Gen. Zhang Youxia, China’s second-ranking military official and vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, says that relations between Russia and China are “at the highest level in the new epoch.” Beijing declared last year that it had a “no-limits” friendship with Russia. China has denounced Western sanctions against Moscow, and accused NATO and the United States of provoking Russia’s military action in Ukraine even as it tried to project itself as neutral in the Ukrainian conflict.