Suspicion of China-Russia cooperation ill-grounded

BEIJING - Chinese President Xi Jinping's ongoing visit to Russia, the first stop of his inaugural foreign visit, has drawn global attention.

It also raised the eyebrows of some Western commentators who misread the nature of China-Russia relationship through the prism of Cold War.

As both Beijing and Moscow stated clearly, the cooperation between them is not targeting any third country and they have little appetite to play an outdated East vs West power game.

By going to Moscow first, President Xi is building on the efforts of his predecessors to develop a partnership based on mutual trust and mutual benefit over the past two decades, and continuing a process started long before the existence of the so-called "Asia pivot".

As the leaders of two major countries of the world, the issues of the meeting between President Xi and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin surely went beyond bilateral matters.

It is true that both nations hold similar views on a broad range of global issues and often back each other's effort to defend core national interests, but suspicions of the intention of China-Russia cooperation are ill-grounded and completely unnecessary.

Closer ties between China and Russia are a natural choice of the two giant neighbors who share long borders without major disputes and boast overlaps in core national interests.

The two neighbors have different advantages in resources, markets and technologies, which make their economies highly complementary and are the major driving forces behind their overall cooperation.

A fast-growing Chinese economy and resources-rich Russia make a good match economically, while Russia sees China as a key gateway to tap the unbounded market and growth potential of the Asia-Pacific region.

Moreover, a stable, friendly relationship between China and Russia not only provides a favorable environment for their economic development, but also benefits the whole world.

As members of the BRICS emerging economies, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the UN Security Council, both China and Russia serve as a stabilizing force to safeguard world peace and prosperity.

Their relationship is not a bloc, union or alliance in nature as Beijing and Moscow pursue an independent and all-around foreign policy respectively.

Their coordination on regional and international hot issues is aimed at building a more just and reasonable global order, rather than targeting any third party.

In a multipolar world, China does cherish faithful friendship with Russia and at the same time needs cooperative partnership with other big powers such as the United States and Europe.

Beijing never seeks to foster a strategic partnership with Moscow at the expense of ties with any other country, but it has zero tolerance if its core interests are infringed, just as Moscow does.