Chinese President Hu Jintao held talks Thursday with visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin on the development of Sino-Russian Strategic Partnership of Cooperation and global issues of common concern. During the talks, both leaders agreed to abide by the principles enshrined by the Sino-Russian Good-Neighborly Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation and constantly push forward their strategic partnership for the benefits of the people of the two nations. Hu said Sino-Russian ties kept improving over the past 55 years and brought substantial interests to the people of both nations and contributed significantly to the world peace and regional security. Putin stressed that the former Soviet Union was the first to establish diplomatic relations with new China upon its founding and the two countries have since developed and strengthened their traditional friendship and strive hard to raise bilateral ties to a higher level. Looking forward to the future, Hu proposed for four basic principles in developing bilateral relations and drew active response from Putin, who echoed that boosting Sino-Russian cooperation has been Russia's consistent policy. The first principle is to insist on mutual respect, equal treatment and mutual support and continuously strengthen political mutual trust. Both sides should respect each other's stance, and the domestic and foreign policies on issues concerning national sovereignty and territorial integrity. The second is to insist on complementarity and mutual benefit and seek for common development from a long-term perspective. The two sides should give full play to the present bilateral cooperation mechanism, stress the further development of bilateral ltrade and investment cooperation, and speed up cooperation in such fields as big energy projects and high-tech, as well as cooperation between localities of the two countries. The third is to insist on coordination, cooperation and mutual trust to jointly create a sound international environment with further cooperation. The two sides should continue to take measures in different ways to enhance bilateral communication and coordination in major international and regional affairs, support multilateralism and the United Nations' important role in international affairs, and push forward the establishment of a just and rational new international political and economic order. The fourth is to learn from each other and expand exchanges to lay a solid social foundation for the bilateral friendship from generation to generation. The two sides should expand cultural cooperation and social exchanges to deepen the traditional friendship between the two peoples. Russia wished to further increase its cooperation with China in economics, trade, science and technology and adhere to its decision of beefing up energy collaboration with China. After the talks, the two leaders signed a Sino-Russian Joint Statement and sanctioned an implementation program for the Sino-Russian Good-Neighborly Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation signed on July 16, 2001. The two presidents also attended a signing ceremony, where Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov signed the Supplementary Agreement on the Eastern Section of China-Russia Boundary Line on behalf of their respective governments. In addition, Chinese Minister of Commerce Bo Xilai and his Russian counterpart signed an agreement on Russia's bid to join the World Trade Organization. A total of 12 bilateral agreements were inked. After the ceremony, Hu Jintao and Putin also met with youth delegations from both China and Russia and delivered impromptu speeches. President Putin arrived in Beijing Thursday morning for a three-day state visit at Hu's invitation. This is Putin's third visit to China and his first visit in during his second term of office. (Souce: Xinhua) |
