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New hopes for ties

(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-05-23 07:28

Coming on the heels of Russian rescuers who flew in to the quake-ravaged Sichuan province to dig out survivors and cure the injured, Russia's new President Dmitry Medvedev is in Beijing today on his first presidential trip outside the Commonwealth of Independent States.

The first foreign trip for any head of state should be a carefully calculated move. The country he or she visits is supposed to be important to his or her own country's foreign relations.

Little wonder that Medvedev's two-day China visit has generated much interest.

However, Medvedev is not the first. In July 2000 Vladimir Putin landed in Beijing, the first stop of his Asia-Pacific trip, two months after he assumed office as Russian President. In May 2003 Hu Jintao's first foreign visit took him to Moscow two months after he became China's president.

Clearly, new leaders of the two countries have put the bilateral relations on top of their foreign policy agenda. They are committed to keeping the China-Russia ties in good shape and cooperating in developing their strategic partnership.

In the past decade, the two countries have worked hard on institutionalizing bilateral relations and exploring more areas for cooperation.

The significance of the Beijing trip of the new leader in Kremlin is far more than symbolic. At their Beijing summit he and Chinese leaders are not expected to just repeat their known positions and ideas. It is hoped that Medvedev's visit will help raise the strategic partnership of cooperation between China and Russia to a higher level.

The two countries hosted "theme years" for each other to consolidate bilateral ties - including the Year of Russia in China in 2006 and the Year of China in Russia in 2007.

During the presidency of Putin, Medvedev's predecessor, Chinese-Russian relations were promoted to a historical high.

President Hu Jintao and Putin met five times last year and laid out a blueprint for the development of the strategic partnership of cooperation in the second decade after its birth.

Hu and Medvedev are expected to expand and clarify their thoughts on making the blueprint a reality. They will discuss issues concerning the strengthening of mutual trust, trade, energy, people-to-people exchanges and international affairs.

The soaring trade between the two countries has been accompanied by an optimized trade structure, booming two-way investment and flourishing cooperation in the border regions.

The visit is expected to further enhance the already mutually beneficial relationship between China and Russia.

(China Daily 05/23/2008 page8)