Foreign and Military Affairs

VP hails Sino-Russian ties

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-03-23 22:25

MOSCOW: Visiting Chinese Vice-President Xi Jinping said here Tuesday that the Sino-Russian relations of strategic cooperation and partnership has played an important role in facilitating smooth interaction between the two countries as well as safeguarding international strategic balance and stability.

Xi made the statement during a meeting with Boris Gryzlov, speaker of Russia's State Duma, the lower house of parliament.

China and Russia celebrated the 60th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties last year, Xi said, noting that Sino-Russian ties had seen unprecedented development in the past six decades, especially since the Sino-Russian relations of strategic cooperation and partnership were established in 1996.

Xi said the two countries were sincere and trustworthy strategic partners and Sino-Russian relations had become the most vigorous and richest relationship between two countries.

China and Russia will jointly commemorate the 65th anniversary of their victory in World War II this year and the "Chinese Language Year" is to be launched in Russia, said the vice-president.

China is willing to take this opportunity to exert concerted efforts with Russia to further enhance political mutual trust, broaden practical cooperation, including interregional cooperation, and make new contributions to world peace and stability, he said.

Xi conveyed Chinese top legislator Wu Bangguo's greetings to Gryzlov and spoke highly of the fruitful cooperation between the national legislatures of China and Russia.

The Chinese side is ready to deepen exchanges with the State Duma and lay a solid legal foundation for bilateral cooperation in various fields, Xi said.

He called on both national legislatures to have an in-depth discussion of new measures to strengthen practical cooperation so as to improve the quality and level of cooperation.

Gryzlov, for his part, said Russia-China relations and the friendship between the two peoples had reached an unprecedented high in recent years.

He said a long-term strategic cooperation and partnership with China was a Russian foreign policy priority and the friendly policy toward China had been supported by all parties represented in the parliament.

Gryzlov expressed the hope that the State Duma could strengthen exchanges and cooperation with the Chinese National People's Congress and the Communist Party of China, exchange governance experience, boost pragmatic economic and trade cooperation, and push forward bilateral relations.

Xi, who arrived here on Saturday, is on a four-nation European tour which will also take him to Belarus, Finland and Sweden.