China, Russia seek closer legislative ties

Zhang Dejiang (L), chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress, meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi, Russia, Sept. 23, 2013. (Xinhua/Yao Dawei)

China and Russia pledged Monday to strengthen cooperation between the two countries' legislative bodies.

The commitment came during top Chinese legislator Zhang Dejiang's official visit on Sept. 22-25 at the invitation of Valentina Matviyenko, chairwoman of the Russian Federation Council, and Sergei Naryshkin, chairman of the State Duma.

Meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi, Zhang, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), said China and Russia were each other's most important strategic partners.

He said Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Russia during his maiden foreign tour as president, during which the leaders of the two countries jointly decided the direction for China-Russia relations in a new era as well as key areas of cooperation.

Recalling the recent consensus reached by Xi and Putin at the G20 summit in St. Petersburg, Zhang said his current visit was aimed at implementing the consensus at the legislative level and translating the high-level advantage of bilateral political ties into more cooperation.

Putin agreed with Zhang's remarks, saying Russia and China were real strategic coordination partners, and relations between the two countries and cooperation between the two legislative bodies were growing fast.

Hailing the two sides' close cooperation in international affairs, Putin said it had vigorously advanced the progress of addressing major international issues and exerted positive influence on the development of the international situation. Russia had a firm desire to further deepen the strategic cooperation.

Putin said cooperation between the two legislative bodies had created a favorable environment for promoting bilateral state-to-state ties and he hoped the two legislative bodies wold make a greater contribution to maintaining the high-level relations between the two countries.

In Moscow, Zhang held separate talks with Matviyenko and Naryshkin.

Zhang said during the talks that strengthening cooperation between the two legislative bodies met the fundamental interests of both China and Russia, which was an important aspect of the two countries' comprehensive relations of strategic cooperation and partnership.

The NPC had always valued the development of its relations with the Russian Federation Council from a strategic perspective, Zhang said, adding he expected the two sides to give full play to each other's advantages, increase friendly contacts, and strengthen pragmatic cooperation to better serve the development of relations between the two countries.

To that end, Zhang proposed enhancing mutual political assistance, helping each other on issues of major concern and core national interests, and supporting each other's development path based on each country's national conditions.

He also proposed enhancing communication on legislation and learning from each other based on national needs to provide legal protection for bilateral pragmatic cooperation in all fields.

Meanwhile, he expected to enhance cooperation at local levels as well as in the humanities field, and consolidate the foundation of society and public opinion on bilateral relations through tapping various contacts of the legislators of the two countries.

The Russian side commended the ties between the Russian Federation Council and China's NPC, saying it valued Zhang's first visit to Russia after he assumed office and believed it would increase cooperation between the two legislative bodies.

The Russian side also voiced hope for the two sides to enhance the exchanges of legislative experience, provide more support to each other in various fields, including cooperation at local levels and in youth and cultural fields, in a bid to safeguard the two countries' common interests and advance the multi-polarization of the world.

The Russian side also said the two legislative bodies' cooperation committee was an important platform for cooperation and it expected to make more efforts in improving the mechanism.

Zhang and Matviyenko attended the 7th meeting of the China-Russia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee and held a press conference afterwards.

During his stay, Zhang visited the Victory Memorial on Poklonnaja Mountain and expressed deep respect for the contributions of the Russian people in the Anti-Fascist War.

He said China stood firm in safeguarding the victory World War II and would not tolerate any attempt to distort or deny the victory.

Zhang also visited Chinese technology company Huawei's subsidiary in Moscow and met Russian Irkutsk Region Governor Sergei Yeroshchenko in Irkutsk city.