President Vladimir Putin said in Moscow on Saturday that
China-Russia strategic partnership was a positive element in the
international order and pledged continued efforts to ensure that
bilateral ties will progress steadily.?
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He made the remarks in an exclusive interview with Xinhua prior to
his visit to China on March 21-22 at the invitation of Chinese
President Hu
Jintao.
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President Putin's visit to Beijing coincides with the launch of the
'Year of Russia in China' in 2006. The President is scheduled to
attend the opening ceremony of the event.
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He said the 'Year of Russia in China' would help strengthen the
strategic partnership between the two countries and that Russia
hoped to expand bilateral cooperation in science and technology,
culture and physical education.
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The Russian president applauded China's remarkable economic
achievements saying the country's technology and education had also
advanced rapidly along with its ever-increasing international
reputation.
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Broad prospects existed for bilateral cooperation in the fields of
humanities and information exchange, the President noted.
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"To a large extent our overall impression of each other is based on
our past experiences," President Putin said. "Therefore, it's
important to let the people of the two countries learn about the
real way of life in Russia and China and about the achievements
which have been made in recent years."
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The decision on launching the 'Year of Russia in China' in 2006 and
the 'Year of China in Russia' in 2007 met the requirement for
promoting bilateral ties, said the President. He added that a
series of large events to be held over the two years were aimed at
bringing the people of the two countries closer together. This
would enrich the creative cooperation with new ideas and activities
helping in promoting and bringing the strategic partnership between
the two countries to new levels.
To strengthen the understanding and friendship between the two
countries it was not enough just to hold some events within the
framework of the two Years, said the President.
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Russia and China should go all out to increase exchanges in science
and technology, culture, physical education, youth and tourism, he
added. The two countries had already gained experience in
cooperating and much had been achieved.?
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Of his forthcoming visit to Beijing President Putin said he was
always very happy to meet with President Hu Jintao and other
Chinese leaders. He anticipated that his visit would yield
substantial benefits which would assist with the vigorous
development of the Russian-Chinese strategic partnership.
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He hailed the unprecedented development of ties between the two
countries saying Russia and China had resolved their major
political difficulties which included border issues. Mutual trust
between the two countries had risen to a completely new
level.
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The active development of Russia-China relations had shown that
being pragmatic and having constructive talks was more effective
than holding grudges against each other and being endlessly
entangled in historical disputes, said the President. .
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Both countries had actively cooperated in the international arena,
had worked closely with each other in regional and global affairs
and were partners in dealing with terrorism and other existing
threats, he said. He added that bilateral trade and economic ties
were vigorous and investment and cooperation in several high tech
areas was strong.?
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Russia believed there were sound prospects for Sino-Russian
relations in all respects to develop further and continued efforts
would be made to ensure that bilateral ties went forward steadily,
said the President. He indicated that Russia was willing to solve
any existing problems in a patient way.?
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"I firmly believe that such a close strategic partnership conforms
to the long-term interests of both countries and their people,"
said the President. The Sino-Russian strategic partnership was not
only becoming a positive part of the international order but was
also helpful to the realization of both nations' goals to modernize
themselves, he observed.
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The President said co-ordination and cooperation between Russia and
China had become a stabilizing factor in international affairs.
"The foreign policies of Russia and China follow similar principles
-- pragmatism and safeguarding national interests," he said.
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"I would like to point out once again that the experience of the
Russian-Chinese cooperation clearly indicates we have become a
stabilizing factor in international affairs," he said.
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President Putin identified the fields of Russian-Chinese
cooperation on the international front including security,
anti-terrorism, prevention of the proliferation of weapons of mass
destruction, the fight against organized crime and drug
trafficking, protection of the ecological system and the
elimination of poverty and the control of pandemics. The efforts of
the international community on a range of subject depended on
Russian-Chinese cooperation in many respects, he said.?
On reform of the UN Security Council and the United Nations in
general the President said both Russia and China maintained that
any such reform should be carried out in a balanced way based on
extensive agreement among member countries.
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He mentioned a joint statement on world order in the 21st century
signed with Chinese President Hu Jintao in July 2005, describing it
as a very important document.
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According to President Putin both Russia and China agreed the
negative impact of "double standards" on international affairs was
obvious; serious problems in arms control and nonproliferation
remained and signs of conflict among different countries were
making themselves increasingly obvious, he noted.
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It should be acknowledged, the President said, that such conflict
had not only been caused by terrorism and extremism but was also a
result of moves towards handling international relations in
ideology-based and stereotyped ways. Attempts to forcibly "export
democracy" and impose cultures and standards on other people was
not the way forward, said the President.
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He said that the strategic partnership between Russia and China was
transparent, was not directed against any third party and was of
realistic attempt at establishing a fairer international order.
While expressing satisfaction over the momentum of growth in
bilateral trade the President called attention to existing
problems.
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A problem area, according to the President, was the irrationality
of the structure of Russia-China trade. This was particularly the
case with Russia's exports to China which had failed to reflect the
development potential of the two countries. He highlighted the fact
that Russian machinery exports to China dropped by nearly 50
percent last year.
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"We believe more concerted efforts should be made to promote
Russia's export of machinery to markets in China particularly
products of which have clear competitive edge," he said. Energy
cooperation between Russia and China was progressing well and had a
promising future, added the President.
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He said the two countries are discussing the possibility of
building an oil pipeline from eastern Siberia to China as a branch
of the planned oil pipeline which would run from eastern Siberia to
Russia's Pacific coast.
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"Russia's oil exports to China are increasing steadily," he said.
"If the proposed oil pipeline is completed oil supplies to China
will be significantly increased. Cooperation in the field of
natural gas is also of bright prospect," hew added.
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The President said that cooperation was underway in accordance with
the strategic cooperative agreements reached between Russia's gas
giant Gazprom and its Chinese counterpart.
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He said that apart from exporting electricity to China the Russians
anticipated attracting investment from China for the construction
of large-scale power generating plants which would be able to
provide electricity for markets including China.
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Talking on the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which
brings together China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan
and Uzbekistan the President said the SCO had truly become an
organization of regional integration with cooperation in economic
and social fields being steadily strengthened.
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The group is seeking new forms of cooperation in order that "our
cooperation will generate the most positive impacts on the
livelihoods of the 3 billion people in the world who are covered by
the SCO," he said.
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"The SCO will celebrate its fifth anniversary on June 15. The SCO
doesn't have a long history but its members have not only completed
the tasks set at the founding of the organization but?
surpassed the initial goals," he added.
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Apart from the organization's six founding members the SCO has also
taken economically and socially important countries like India,
Iran, Pakistan and Mongolia on board as observers, the President
commented.
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The organization continued to work towards safeguarding regional
stability and security and combating separatism, extremism and
terrorism, he said.?
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The SCO summit scheduled for June in Shanghai will re-emphasize the
founding principles of the group and carry forward the spirit to
demonstrate the member states' willingness to map out new ways for
cooperating internationally.
(Xinhua News Agency March 20, 2006)