Li meets Putin amid warming ties

In a bid to strengthen cooperation, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday after over 30 deals were signed between the two governments on Monday. [Special coverage]

Mutual investment between China and Russia will continue to grow and further expand, Li noted at the meeting, while Putin confirmed plans to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders' summit in Beijing in November and said that he has no doubt that Russia-China trade will reach $100 billion in 2015.

Commenting on Li's trip, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hong Lei told a regular briefing on Tuesday that Chinese-Russian cooperation is mutually beneficial and that the cooperation is based on mutual trust without targeting a third country.

"It helps foster stability in the world," Hong said.

China and Russia signed 38 agreements worth billions of dollars covering sectors such as energy, finance and transportation at the 19th China-Russia Prime Ministers' Regular Meeting attended by Li and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev on Monday.

Speaking at the III Moscow International Forum for Innovative Development "Open Innovations" on Tuesday, Li also said that China places tremendous emphasis on the continued fostering of cooperation with Russia in the high-tech sphere and by joining forces, the two countries can boost their science and technology potentials and international competitiveness.

"The Chinese and Russian economies, already at the critical threshold of transformation and modernization, are in need of further research and development innovation and structural modernization, as well as scientific breakthroughs and inclusive advancements," said Li.

Li has previously referred to the forum as an opportunity to significantly increase the proportion of technological innovation within bilateral cooperation.

"Russia may not be the best model for innovation, but China can indeed learn from some of its military projects, which are better supported by the government in order to guarantee deterrence capacity. China, on the other hand, invests heavily in technology, but still lags behind due to poor foundations," said Wang Guoxiang, an associate professor at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences.

The long anticipated Russian Su-35 fighter jets may finally see a contract in November for delivery to China. "The combined commission on military technological cooperation will meet in November. I believe that this matter will be sorted out then," Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin was quoted by Interfax-AVN on Tuesday as saying.

However, Wang noted that it remained uncertain whether the deal can be signed as cooperation with Russia has always been full of twists and turns but things might also go smoothly as the two countries have been "extremely" close since the Ukraine crisis.