#6590 #6591
#17 - JRL 6589
Renmin Ribao Hails 'New-style' Sino-Russian Relations
Renmin Ribao (China)
4 December 2002
[translation for personal use only]
Article by Gu Ping: "A Model of New-style State
Relations"
Russian President Putin concluded his visit to China on 3 December when he left Beijing, filled with the friendly feelings of the Chinese people. During his visit, Chinese President Jiang Zemin had talks with him; they had a thorough exchange of views on bilateral relations and major international issues of common concern and achieved broad and important consensus. The two heads of state signed the "Sino-Russian Joint Statement" and attended the signing ceremony for relevant cooperation agreements between the two countries.
This meeting of the Chinese and Russian heads of state comprehensively summed up the successful experiences in the development of bilateral relations, and drew up new strategic plans for the development of this relationship in the coming period, thus raising the good neighborly, friendly, and cooperative relations between the two countries to a new level. This was of major historic and practical significance.
The development of Sino-Russian relations has been highly gratifying over the past 10 years; political trust between the two countries has grown by the day, areas of cooperation have continually expanded, and traditional friendship has become ever firmer, while coordination and cooperation in international affairs has been further strengthened. The relationship between the two countries has gradually advanced from mutual regard as friendly countries at the start to constructive cooperative partnership and finally to strategic cooperative partnership; they have become good neighbors, partners, and friends "friendly for all generations and never becoming enemies." In particular, since the signing of the "Sino-Russian Treaty of Good neighborliness, Cooperation, and Friendship" last year, under the personal drive of President Jiang Zemin and President Putin, relations between the two countries have advanced in still greater strides and developed in comprehensive fashion, and have now entered a new stage of maturity and stability.
The establishment of the Sino-Russian strategic cooperative partnership not only accords with the long-term and fundamental interests of the people of the two countries but also plays a positive role in promoting world development toward multipolarization and democratization.
The reason why the Sino-Russian relationship merits high esteem is because this friendly relationship between China and Russia is a new-style state relationship that is nonaligned, non-confrontational, and not aimed at any third country, and conforms to the tide of the world, setting an example for future interstate relations.
A main pillar in the new-style Sino-Russian relationship is the fact that the two countries have established a new-style security concept with mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, and cooperation as the core. China and Russia are both permanent members of the UN Security Council and both are working to build a more just, rational and democratic new international political and economic order. Hence, mutual cooperation between China and Russia helps to preserve world balance and stability and peace and security; and it also helps to preserve the authoritative status and core role of the United Nations and its Security Council. The crackdown on the world menace of international terrorism has provided new opportunities and areas for cooperation between the major powers. Coordination and cooperation between China and Russia in this sphere helps to crack down on the forces of international terrorism, ethnic separatism, and religious extremism, and to ensure security, stability, and peace in central Asia. The two countries also have many common interests in preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and so on.
Looking to the future, there are tremendous potentials for economic and trade cooperation between the two countries; their economies are strongly complementary and there are broad fields for cooperation. Bilateral trade volume last year topped $10 billion, and as bilateral cooperation in energy, motive power, aviation, and space technology develops further, there are expectations of still greater growth in trade volume. The prospects for Sino-Russian relations will be still better.
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