China-Russia relations to make further progress

The relations between China and Russia, thanks to the efforts by both countries, have made remarkable development in recent years.

The latest landmark is Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's ongoing visit to Russia and his participation here in the 17th regular meeting between the Chinese and Russian heads of government.

Since China and Russia signed the Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation in 2001, which laid a solid foundation for pushing forward bilateral ties, their pragmatic cooperation has yielded rich fruit in all spheres.

Sergei Sanakoyev, head of the Russia-China Center for Trade and Economic Cooperation, said "a high level of political relations" between the two countries have been preserved this year.

China was among the countries re-elected President Vladimir Putin visited during his first round of foreign trips. In spring, Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang's visit to Russia also elevated bilateral cooperation to a higher level, Sanakoyev told Xinhua.

Following Putin's visit to China in June and President Hu Jintao's participation in the leaders' meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in Russia's Far Eastern city of Vladivostok in September, Wen's visit features another crucial event in China-Russia relations.

Li Hui, the Chinese ambassador to Russia, highly appraised the mechanism of regular high-level meetings between the two countries, calling the well-designed framework "unique among China-foreign relations and rare in relations between major powers."

Close ties between the two neighbors have blossomed, especially in economy and trade, with bilateral trade reaching 73.6 billion U.S. dollars in the first 10 months of 2012, a 13.4 percent year-on-year rise, said Vice Foreign Minister Cheng Guoping.

The senior diplomat noted that this was a rare achievement against the backdrop of the global economic slump.

Bilateral trade maintains good momentum of growth and will reach the goal of 100 billion dollars in 2015 and 200 billion dollars in 2020, Li told Xinhua.

As leading emerging economies, China and Russia have huge growth potential. They need each other in market, technology and investment, among other areas, and they also have complementary advantages.

The two counties have also made joint efforts in promoting cultural and people-to-people exchanges over the last two decades, Li said.

China holds the Tourism Year of Russia in 2012 and the Tourism Year of China will be held in Russia next year, as agreed by the two countries' leaders.

Past reciprocal events include the National Years in 2006 and 2007, and the Years of Language in 2009 and 2010, which helped promote people-to-people exchanges and consolidate social foundations for bilateral ties.

Meanwhile, China and Russia have strengthened their coordination in the global arena in a fast-changing world.

Fedor Lukyanov, editor in chief of the "Russia in Global Affairs" journal, told Xinhua that China and Russia share similar views on building a multi-polar world and both stand for sovereignty and noninterference in domestic affairs.

As permanent members of the UN Security Council, the two countries cooperated closely on key international issues such as seeking a political settlement for the Syria crisis, fostering a quick resumption of Iranian nuclear talks, and participating in the six-party talks aimed at resolving the problems on the Korean Peninsula, said local experts.

According to Lukyanov, the current level of China-Russia relations is close to optimal.

"Russia and China have never had such good relations like now. There are no problems able to overshadow them," he said.

In a recent interview with Russian and Chinese media here, Li, the ambassador, said China and Russia look forward to pushing forward their comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination in politics, economy and trade, technology, energy and people-to-people exchanges.

Both as each other's largest neighbor and as major political and economic powers in the world, China and Russia need each other in their own development.

"A stable, friendly and prosperous relationship between China and Russia is also needed for the development of the entire world," Li said.