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By Liao Lei, Agence France-Presse
MOSCOW: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is
scheduled to pay his first foreign visit to Kazakhstan and China
this week. As China is destined to be the first non-Commonwealth of
Independent States member country of Medvedev’s first tour abroad
since he was sworn in on May 7, the visit will mark the importance
attached by the two countries to their strategic partnership of
cooperation.
Booming bilateral cooperation
During the presidency of Vladimir Putin,
Medvedev’s predecessor, Chinese-Russian relations were promoted to
a historical high.
Chinese President Hu Jintao and Putin met five
times last year and laid out the blueprint for the development of
the strategic partnership of cooperation in the second decade after
its birth.
The heads of government and parliament speakers
have also frequently exchanged visits, which facilitate the
strengthening of mutual trust and bilateral cooperation, observers
say.
In the economic sphere, bilateral trade volume
surged from $10.67 billion in 2000 to $33.39 billion in 2006 and
$48.17 billion last year, according to the Ministry of Commerce of
China.
The soaring economic figures were also
accompanied by an optimized trade structure, booming two-way
investment and flourishing cooperation in the border regions,
analysts said.
Meanwhile, the two neighboring states hosted
“theme years” for each other in a bid to consolidate bilateral
ties, including the Year of Russia in China in 2006 and the Year of
China in Russia in 2007.
Such theme events promoted substantial
cooperation in such fields as trade, investment, energy, culture,
education, healthcare, sports, tourism and media.
Medvedev, then first deputy prime minister and
Russia’s chairman of the theme years’ organizing committee, said
that such activities were pioneer projects and had yielded
remarkable achievements.
Hearing the news on the May 12 deadly earthquake
in China’s southwestern region that has claimed more than 32,000
lives, Medvedev sent a letter of solace on the same day to the
Chinese president, which was followed by four batches of
humanitarian aid and rescue teams to the disaster-hit region.
Enhanced multilateral cooperation
China and Russia have hailed their coordination
and mutual support on an array of international issues such as
preserving the authority of the United Nations (UN), countering
hegemonism and settling conflicts in hot spots of the world arena.
In a joint statement inked by Hu and Putin in
2007, China and Russia said such cooperation on the global stage has
maintained the world’s strategic balance, peace and stability.
As both are nuclear powers and permanent members
of the UN Security Council, China and Russia have played important
roles in seeking solutions to the nuclear issue on the Korean
Peninsula and Iran’s nuclear program.
They are both mediators in the six-party talks
on the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula and international talks
concerning Iran.
Both are members of the Shanghai Cooperation
Organization where China and Russia have actively cooperated in
maintaining regional peace and security, fighting against the three
evil forces of terrorism, extremism and separatism, cracking down on
drugs and arms trafficking and boosting regional economic
cooperation.
Putin’s support
“Developing the strategic partnership between
the two countries conforms to the fundamental interests of both
nations, and is also important to safeguarding peace and security of
the region and the world at large, and promoting common development
and prosperity,” Hu said in a message to Medvedev upon the
latter’s inauguration on May 7.
Hu expressed confidence that Russia will score
new achievements in its development under Medvedev’s leadership.
The Chinese president also said that it is a
shared responsibility of China and Russia to ensure the steady and
healthy development of their strategic partnership of cooperation.
Hu said he was ready to work with Medvedev to
deepen mutual political trust between the two countries, promote
pragmatic cooperation and strengthen coordination in international
and regional affairs.
Medvedev, in response, spoke highly of the
Russia-China strategic partnership of cooperation, saying the
Russian-Chinese ties have been serving as an important factor in the
world arena and to develop the partnership is the sole direction of
Russia’s policy to China.
Political observers believe that under the
leadership of Medvedev and support from Putin, who is now Russia’s
prime minister, the strategic partnership of cooperation between
Moscow and Beijing will be further strengthened.
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