Chinese President Xi Jinping is talking up the Chinese economy's resilience as he heads to Moscow for a state visit affirming increasingly close ties between the former Cold War rivals.
In interviews published Wednesday, Xi told Russian journalists Chinese consumer demand is driving growth despite the trade war with the United States.
"Looking into the future, a number of factors will support the steady, healthy and sustainable growth of China's economy, including abundant human resources, strong internal driving forces, growing development dynamism and mobilization capability," Xi said.
"Therefore, China has all the necessary conditions, capability and confidence to deal with any risks and challenges," he said without referring directly to the United States and the dispute with Washington over Chinese trade and technology policies.
The trip to Moscow highlights Beijing's efforts to drum up support both at home and abroad as the President Donald Trump's administration pushes China to do more to redress a huge perennial trade surplus and end policies that US and other foreign companies and governments say violate Beijing's market-opening commitments.
While Russia has relatively little heft in global trade, Xi can be assured of a friendly audience when he defends China's position in the dispute.
Elsewhere, China's diplomats abroad have been meeting with reporters, academics and government officials to press China's argument that it is being bullied by the US and that Washington's dialing-up of trade tensions spells trouble for the world economy as a whole.
On Sunday, the Commerce Ministry issued a lengthy report defending China's position and stating that Beijing won't back down on "major issues of principle."
It followed that by issuing a pair of travel warnings for the U.S., while the Foreign Ministry accused the U.S. of acting in bad faith in trade negotiations and said any attempts to interfere or undermine China's stability would be "doomed to fail."