China-Russia relations continue to develop at high level: Chinese ambassador

MOSCOW -- The China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination is continuing to develop at a high level this year under the strategic guidance of the leadership of both countries, Chinese Ambassador to Russia Li Hui has said.

The heads of state of China and Russia have been exchanging views and reached a string of important consensuses on deepening bilateral relations, promoting cooperation in various fields and on other major international and regional issues since the beginning of this year, Li told Xinhua in a recent interview.

"The two leaders agreed upon comprehensive plans for developing China-Russia relations, and issued joint statements on the current world situation..., which underlines that the two countries are serving as stabilizers in the changing international dynamics," Li said.

Recalling that China and Russia coordinated closely with each other on a series of global occasions this year, the ambassador said the two countries have further enhanced their mutual political trust and explored the potential for cooperation.

In May, Russian President Vladimir Putin attended the Belt and Road Forum (BRF) for International Cooperation held in China's capital Beijing and sent a clear signal that Russia supports the Chinese initiative and will actively participate in it.

Later at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit held in Astana and the Group of 20 (G20) Hamburg summit, China and Russia jointly appealed to the international community to promote trade liberalization and deepen economic globalization while discarding the Cold War and zero-sum mentalities, so as to improve the international order.

"China and Russia's stance of upholding fairness and justice has won wide appreciation by the international community," Li said.

Speaking of the prospects of bilateral economic and trade cooperation, Li noted that while strategic projects in the fields of energy, transportation, aerospace, finance and other traditional ones are steadily progressing, new highlights have been emerging in bilateral trade in various fields.

Favorable policies and financial support are provided for cooperation in agricultural production, trade and investment, Li said, adding that the two countries have set up an agricultural and industrial development fund in the Far East to explore the agricultural potential in the region.

In addition, more and more Chinese e-commerce enterprises have entered the Russian market and contributed to a substantial increase in the volume of bilateral trade in this field, he said. So far, Russia has become the second largest foreign market for Chinese cross-border e-commerce enterprises.

Cooperation in the field of high-tech manufacturing has also seen great development. According to the ambassador, growths in trade of electromechanical and hi-tech products between China and Russia in the first quarter of this year reached 20.8 percent and 19.4 percent respectively.

"These new highlights play an important role in expanding the scale and improving the structure of the economic and trade cooperation as well as coordinating the sustainable development of bilateral trade," Li said.

According to statistics from China's General Administration of Customs, the bilateral trade volume between China and Russia in the first seven months this year was $46.822 billion, an year-on-year increase of 21.8 percent. China has remained as Russia's largest trading partner for seven consecutive years.

Li said Russia, as an important member of the BRICS cooperation mechanism, has given strong support to China in hosting the upcoming summit in the Chinese city of Xiamen on Sept 3-5.

"By reviewing the cooperation experience under the BRICS framework in the past ten years, China looks forward to working with all parties including Russia to jointly lay out a new blueprint for future development so as to create a second 'golden decade'," Li said.