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Russian President Vladimir Putin concluded his China visit on December 3, carrying with him the friendship of the Chinese people as he left Beijing.
During his stay in China, Chinese President Jiang Zemin held talks with him and had an in-depth exchange of opinions on bilateral relations and major international issues of common concern, reaching an extensive and important consensus.
Heads of state of the two countries signed the "Sino-Russian Joint Statement" and attended the signing ceremony of an agreement on bilateral cooperation.
During their meeting, the Chinese and Russian leaders made a comprehensive summary of the successful experiences in the development of bilateral ties and formulated a strategic plan for the development of bilateral relations for a period of time to come, thereby lifting the good neighborly relations of friendship and cooperation between the two countries to a new high, it is of important historic and practical significance.
Over the past decade, the development of Sino-Russian relations is gratifying, political mutual trust between the two countries has been deepening day by day, the area of cooperation has kept expanding, their traditional friendship has become more consolidated, and their coordination and cooperation in international affairs have further strengthened.
Bilateral relationship has developed gradually from the early period when both sides looked upon each other as friendly countries to a constructive partnership, and finally to a strategic cooperative partnership, becoming good neighbors, good partners and good friends who are "friendly and never hostile to each other for generations to come".
Particularly since the signing of the "Sino-Russian Good Neighborly Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation" last year, under the personal motivation of President Jiang Zemin and President Putin, the relations between the two countries have advanced with big strides and developed in an all-round way, and have now stepped onto a new stage of maturity and stability.
The establishment of Sino-Russian strategic cooperative partnership not only conforms to the long-term and fundamental interests of the two peoples, but also has a positive role in promoting the world to develop in the direction toward multi-polarization and democratization.
What is praiseworthy in Sino-Russian relationship is that this friendly relationship of China and Russia is a new-type state relationship of non-alignment, non-antagonism and not aiming at a third country, it conforms to the trends of the world and sets an example for future state-to-state relations
One big pillar in the new-type relationship between China and Russia is the new concept of security with mutual confidence, mutual benefit, equality and cooperation as the core established by the two countries.
Both China and Russia are the permanent members of the Security Council of the United Nations and both devote their efforts to establishing a more just, reasonable and democratic international political and economic new order.
Therefore, the mutual cooperation between China and Russia helps maintain the balance and stability, and peace and security of the world; it facilitates the defense of the authoritative position and core role of the United Nations and its Security Council.
The fight against international terrorism, a world scourge, has provided a new opportunity and area for cooperation between big countries. The coordination and cooperation between China and Russia in this field helps attack international terrorist, national separatist and religious extremist forces and is conducive to guaranteeing the security, stability and peace in the Central Asian region.The two countries have many common interests in the aspect of preventing the spread of weapons of mass destruction.
As we look into the future, we find that the two countries have tremendous potential for developing economic and trade cooperation, their economies are strongly complementary, and the area for cooperation is extensive. The trade volume of the two countries exceeded US$10 billion last year, along with the further development of bilateral cooperation in the fields of energy, power, aerial and space technologies, the trade volume of the two countries is expected to have greater growth. There will be a better prospect for Sino-Russian relationship.
(People's Daily December 5, 2002)
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