Now leaders of the two countries meet regularly, and more than 20 intergovernmental mechanisms are in place, noted the Russian president, who is scheduled to pay a state visit to China on Saturday, his fourth trip to China since Chinese President Xi Jinping took office in 2013. Mr Putin’s visit yielded more than 30 cooperation deals in areas ranging from economy and trade to sports and culture.
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The two presidents have agreed to beef up mutual support and enhance trust in their countries’ political and strategic development.
In comments reported by the German news weekly “Die Zeit” on Wednesday, Commander of U.S. ground forces in Europe General Ben Hodges said that North Atlantic Treaty Organisation would now be unable to protect the Baltics against a Russian attack.
China, Russia and Mongolia signed a development plan on Thursday to build an economic corridor that will boost transport links and economic cooperation among the three neighbours, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
But despite Moscow’s push to strengthen ties with Beijing amid a bitter strain in relations with the West, Russia-China trade has shrunk sharply and a slew of ambitious projects have remained largely on paper.
“At the summit held past year in Ufa, Russia, we made a decision to admit another two states to the SCO – Pakistan and India”.
Discussions over the UN, BRICS and G20 will also be on the two leaders’ agenda.
Xi Jinping said China and Russian Federation are major economies and emerging markets, adding that the two sides should integrate the Belt and Road Initiative and the Eurasian Economic Union for broader regional economic cooperation.
“Russia and China stick to points of view which are very close to each other or are nearly the same in the global arena”, Putin said.
“Chinese partners have increased their participation in the largest Russian project to produce liquefied natural gas “Yamal”, the President of the Russian Federation added.
However, many deals have only been progressing slowly over Chinese investors’ distrust of the Russian economy and Russia’s fear of increasing economic dependence on China. A declaration on the Kremlin website from the two governments called on countries to strictly comply with the standards of worldwide law, keep military capabilities at the minimum level required for national security and refrain from actions aimed at expanding existing military-political alliances.
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The two heads of state, who met five times past year, also signed a joint statement on promoting the development of information and cyberspace.
