Visit deepens good-neighborliness and friendly cooperation

Editor's note: President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was on a state visit to China, on Wednesday signed a joint statement on enhancing comprehensive strategic coordination and deepening good-neighborliness and friendly cooperation between the two countries. Two experts shared their views on this matter with China Daily's Li Huixian and Wang Qingyun.

Deepened coordination beneficial to both

By Zhao Huirong

The high-level engagement between President Xi Jinping and visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin in Beijing on Wednesday and the signing of more than 20 cooperation agreements in areas such as education, technology and economic and trade relations by the two heads of state hold strategic significance on multiple levels.

First, both sides agreed to extend the China-Russia Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation, thereby maintaining the legal foundation for deep bilateral ties.

This extension allows the further development of their comprehensive strategic partnership, safeguarding their sovereignty, and developmental interests across the board, while advancing cooperation in various fields.

Notably, they leverage platforms such as the China-Russia Years of Education to unlock the potential of exchanges between their peoples.

The two countries can also leverage existing multilateral cooperation frameworks — including the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, BRICS, and the coordination mechanisms linking the Belt and Road Initiative with the Eurasian Economic Union — to jointly promote regional connectivity and cross-border trade, ensure the smooth operation of regional industry and supply chains, and foster a stable and orderly environment for regional development.

This collaboration will enable China and Russia to further expand cooperation in areas such as energy, cross-border logistics, local-currency settlements, and trade and economic exchanges.

Moreover, the Chinese side called for even higher quality development and revitalization of the comprehensive strategic coordination between China and Russia.

This approach has a solid practical foundation. Both countries are at a critical stage of industrial upgrading and are pursuing self-reliant development in their economic and technological systems. They face shared challenges, such as trade barriers and supply chain instability. By deepening their cooperation, the two nations can effectively complement each other's economic strengths.

For instance, Russia can leverage China's vast market, comprehensive manufacturing capacity, and infrastructure capabilities to broaden its development space and unlock the potential of its energy and other resources.

At the same time, China can draw on Russia's resource endowments, market and favorable geographical location to diversify its energy and resource supplies and smooth its westward-opening corridors.

This way, mutual reinforcement can serve each country's domestic revitalization needs.

From a long-term strategic perspective, by supporting each other's development and revitalization through cooperation, the two countries can steadily strengthen their development confidence, withstand external uncertainties, achieve stable growth, and further consolidate the foundation for bilateral relations.

Globally, both countries can continue working together to promote a multipolar world, advance multilateralism and implement the four global initiatives proposed by China and counter hegemony, unilateralism and bloc confrontation.

The commitment of Beijing and Moscow to promoting a more just and equitable international order through the United Nations is a stabilizing force, and can help safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Global South countries.

Zhao Huirong is a researcher at the Institute of Russian, Eastern European and Central Asian Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The views don't necessarily reflect those of China Daily.