China-Russia ties at a historic high point and continue to improve

China Plus Published: 2019-06-05 17:52:09
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Note: The following article is taken from the Chinese-language "Commentaries on International Affairs."

China's President Xi Jinping has arrived in Russia for a state visit. This year marks the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Russia, and both sides have noted many times that their bilateral relationship is the best it has ever been. President Xi's visit at this historic juncture will further strengthen ties between the two countries and generate new opportunities for development.

The leaders of China and Russia have met more than 20 times over the past six years, having established a close working relationship and deep personal friendship. During his upcoming visit, President Xi will attend the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, which comes two months after Russia’s President Vladimir Putin attended the 2nd Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing. Sergey Luzyanin, the director of the Institute for Far Eastern Studies under the Russian Academy of Sciences, said President Xi's attendance at the St. Petersburg forum will raise the status of the forum.

Chinese President Xi Jinping. [File photo: Xinhua]

Chinese President Xi Jinping. [File photo: Xinhua]

As the global situation undergoes profound and complex changes, China and Russia have respected each other's path towards development and firmly supported each other on issues involving their core interests and major concerns. This is an important reason why their major-power relationship has steadily advanced with the highest level of mutual trust and coordination. This relationship has resulted in mutually-beneficial cooperation in a variety of fields, and its strategic importance is evident in the fact that last year the value of trade between the two countries reached 100 billion U.S. dollars for the first time. President Putin said this was the result of their increasing mutual trust.

Since the beginning of the year, the two sides of the first highway bridge between the two countries have been joined, the first China-Russia railway bridge is nearing completion, the first delivery of natural gas via the eastern section of a cross-border natural gas pipeline is set to be made by the end of the year, and bilateral cooperation has been deepening in the fields of technology, infrastructure construction, high-technology, e-commerce, and agriculture. And Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary for the president of Russia, says there is still a lot of room for growth in China's investment in Russia.

Facing sanctions from Western countries in recent years, Russia has advocated for fair competition and voiced its opposition to protectionism through platforms such as the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. China has dispatched high-level delegations to this forum for many years to make it clear to the international community that it will firmly adhere to its policy of opening up, and work to safeguard the open world economy with its multilateral trading system.

With unilateralism and protectionism on the rise globally, and the world order facing growing challenges, determined action from China and Russia to safeguard world peace and stability and uphold international justice has become a ballast for the changing world. The partnership between China and Russia looks set to bear more fruitful results that will benefit the Chinese and Russian people and contribute positive energy to an increasingly complex world.

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LU Xiankun Professor LU Xiankun is Managing Director of LEDECO Geneva and Associate Partner of IDEAS Centre Geneva. He is Emeritus Professor of China Institute for WTO Studies of the University of International Business and Economics (UIBE) and Wuhan University (WHU) of China and visiting professor or senior research fellow of some other universities and think tanks in China and Europe. He also sits in management of some international business associations and companies, including as Senior Vice President of Shenzhen UEB Technology LTD., a leading e-commerce company of China. Previously, Mr. LU was senior official of Chinese Ministry of Commerce and senior diplomat posted in Europe, including in Geneva as Counsellor and Head of Division of the Permanent Mission of China to the WTO and in Brussels as Commercial Secretary of the Permanent Mission of China to the EU. Benjamin Cavender Benjamin Cavender is a Shanghai based consultant with more than 11 years of experience helping companies understand consumer behavior and develop go to market strategies for China. He is a frequent speaker on economic and consumer trends in China and is often featured on CNBC, Bloomberg, and Channel News Asia. Sara Hsu Sara Hsu is an associate professor from the State University of New York at New Paltz. She is a regular commentator on Chinese economy. Xu Qinduo Xu Qinduo is CRI's former chief correspondent to Washington DC, the United States. He works as the producer, host and commentator for TODAY, a flagship talk show on current affairs. Mr. Xu contributes regularly to English-language newspapers including Shenzhen Daily and Global Times as well as Chinese-language radio and TV services. Lin Shaowen A radio person, Mr. Lin Shaowen is strongly interested in international relations and Chinese politics. As China is quite often misunderstood in the rest of the world, he feels the need to better present the true picture of the country, the policies and meanings. So he talks a lot and is often seen debating. Then friends find a critical Lin Shaowen criticizing and criticized. George N. Tzogopoulos Dr George N. Tzogopoulos is an expert in media and politics/international relations as well as Chinese affairs. He is Senior Research Fellow at the Centre International de Européenne (CIFE) and Visiting Lecturer at the European Institute affiliated with it and is teaching international relations at the Department of Law of the Democritus University of Thrace. George is the author of two books: US Foreign Policy in the European Media: Framing the Rise and Fall of Neoconservatism (IB TAURIS) and The Greek Crisis in the Media: Stereotyping in the International Press (Ashgate) as well as the founder of chinaandgreece.com, an institutional partner of CRI Greek. David Morris David Morris is the Pacific Islands Trade and Investment Commissioner in China, a former Australian diplomat and senior political adviser. Harvey Dzodin After a distinguished career in the US government and American media Dr. Harvey Dzodin is now a Beijing-based freelance columnist for several media outlets. While living in Beijing, he has published over 200 columns with an emphasis on arts, culture and the Belt & Road initiative. He is also a sought-after speaker and advisor in China and abroad. He currently serves as Nonresident Research Fellow of the think tank Center for China and Globalization and Senior Advisor of Tsinghua University National Image Research Center specializing in city branding. Dr. Dzodin was a political appointee of President Jimmy Carter and served as lawyer to a presidential commission. Upon the nomination of the White House and the US State Department he served at the United Nations Office in Vienna, Austria. He was Director and Vice President of the ABC Television in New York for more than two decades.