Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, March 17th Topic: Orienting China-Russia Relations to Inject More Stability into the World——Written on the occasion of President Xi Jinping’s upcoming state visit to Russia
Xinhua News Agency reporter
The Ural Mountains stand majestically, the Volga River winds forward, and the vast land of Russia will welcome distinguished Chinese guests again. At the invitation of President Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation, President Xi Jinping will pay a state visit to Russia from March 20 to 22.
This is President Xi Jinping’s first overseas visit since he was re-elected as the president of the country. It is a journey of friendship, cooperation and peace. Strategic coordination and practical cooperation in various fields have injected strong impetus into maintaining peace, security, development and prosperity, and jointly building a community with a shared future for mankind.
Set up a model of relations between major countries
Climbing up and down in the ice and snow, dragging a vat full of water with a sturdy pace, and feasting on fresh bamboo… At the beginning of March this year, the Chinese giant panda “Ruyi” living in the Moscow Zoo in Russia became popular all over the Internet. Chinese netizens commented: “Russia has given the highest courtesy to China’s national treasure.”
On July 31, 2022, people watched the Chinese giant panda “Ruyi” at the Moscow Zoo in Russia.Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Bai Xueqi
In June 2019, during President Xi Jinping’s visit to Russia, he and President Putin witnessed the settlement of giant pandas “Ruyi” and “Ding Ding” in Moscow, adding a warm and bright background to the friendship between the two countries.
During that visit, the leaders of the two countries jointly signed and issued a joint statement, announcing the development of the China-Russia Comprehensive Strategic Cooperative Partnership for a New Era, realizing the improvement and upgrading of bilateral relations. era.
During his second visit to Russia after more than three years, President Xi Jinping and President Putin will have an in-depth exchange of views on bilateral relations and major international and regional issues of common concern, so as to promote strategic coordination and practical cooperation between the two countries and inject new impetus into the development of bilateral relations. This visit is the ninth time that President Xi Jinping has set foot on Russian soil since he assumed the presidency. In the past ten years, the top leaders of China and Russia have met 40 times, and the political exchanges between the two heads of state have always maintained a high level, high frequency and high quality.
Exchanges between heads of state are the compass and star of Sino-Russian relations. Every stride forward in the relationship between the two countries is inseparable from the strategic leadership and personal planning of the heads of state of China and Russia. In 2013, the heads of state of the two countries signed the “China-Russia Joint Statement on Win-Win Cooperation and Deepening Comprehensive Strategic Cooperative Partnership”, In 2014, the “Sino-Russian Joint Statement on the New Stage of Comprehensive Strategic Cooperative Partnership” was signed; in 2015, the “Sino-Russian Joint Statement on Deepening Comprehensive Strategic Cooperative Partnership and Advocating Win-win Cooperation” was signed; The Joint Statement on Deepening the Comprehensive Strategic Cooperative Partnership”, signed in 2019 the “Sino-Russian Joint Statement on the Development of a Comprehensive Strategic Cooperative Partnership in the New Era”, and the 20th anniversary of the signing of the “Sino-Russian Treaty of Good Neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation” in 2021, the two heads of state officially announced Treaty extended and given a new age connotation…
Russian figure skaters participating in the 3rd China-Russia Winter Youth Games pay tribute to Chinese athletes on the sidelines during pre-match adaptation training at the Wuhuan Gymnasium in Changchun (photo taken on December 15, 2022).Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Xu Chang
Faced with a century of changes and a century of epidemics, President Xi Jinping and President Putin have maintained close communication in various ways. From the “Winter Olympics appointment” and “New Year’s meeting” to the traditional end-of-year video meeting, from telephone communication to exchanging letters, from “cloud witness” China-Russia nuclear energy cooperation project groundbreaking ceremony to “cloud attendance” the other country’s home diplomacy Important events…Under the joint guidance of the two heads of state, the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination in the new era has become more mature and tenacious, and the endogenous power of cooperation between the two countries has further emerged.
“If you get the right way, you will be the same for thousands of miles.” China and Russia have successfully blazed a path of strategic mutual trust and neighborliness among major powers, setting a model for a new type of international relations. In the face of the profoundly evolving international situation, China and Russia have always maintained strategic focus, adhered to the general direction of building a multi-polar world, and advocated and practiced true multilateralism. Sino-Russian relations are based on non-alignment, non-confrontation, and non-targeting of any third party. They neither pose a threat to any country in the world nor are they subject to interference or provocation by any third party. Vasily Kashin, director of the European and International Comprehensive Research Center of the Russian Higher University of Economics, said that Russia and China have created a model of great power relations, “Efficient, responsible, responsible, and future-oriented major power relations play an important role in the international situation. stabilizing effect”.
This is taken on December 18, 2022, at the Kovikta gas field facility in Irkutsk Oblast, Russia.Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Meng Jing
Writing a new chapter in friendship and cooperation
Heihe, a border city in northeast China, and Blagoveshchensk, Russia, across the Heilongjiang River, are known as the “Sino-Russian Twin Cities”. On June 10 last year, the Heihe-Blagoveshchensk Highway Bridge, the first China-Russia highway bridge across the Heilongjiang River, was officially opened to traffic.
A bridge flies to China and Russia. This bridge is a major cross-border infrastructure project promoted by the two heads of state. Its opening will open up a new international transportation channel between Northeast China and the Russian Far East, and become a symbol of China-Russia cross-border connectivity.
This is the joint position of China and Russia’s first cross-border river highway bridge (photographed on December 2, 2019). The starting point of the bridge is located in Heihe City, Heilongjiang Province, and the end point is located in Blagoveshchensk, Russia.Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Wang Jianwei
From the connectivity of transportation infrastructure to the implementation of the roadmap for the high-quality development of China-Russia trade in goods and services, from the steady promotion of major oil and gas cooperation projects to the strengthening of scientific and technological innovation cooperation, the fields of China-Russia practical cooperation have continued to expand, both in quantity and quality.
Over the past ten years, the Sino-Russian trade volume has drawn a strong growth curve: from less than US$90 billion in 2013 to more than US$190 billion in 2022, and is now accelerating towards the US$200 billion goal set by the two heads of state.
At the Mafang Station of the Pinggu Local Railway in Beijing, the China Railway Express (Beijing-Moscow), the Jingping Comprehensive Logistics Hub, departs (photo taken on March 16, 2023).Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Ren Chao
In recent years, China’s exports of automobiles and spare parts to Russia have increased significantly, and sales of Chinese automobile brands in Russia have continued to rise. By the end of last year, the number of Chinese brand auto dealers in Russia had reached 1,041.
Russian products are also popular among Chinese consumers. Chocolate, honey, flour, and wine from Russia have been put into the vegetable baskets and snack boxes of Chinese people. The Russian Export Center recently announced that it will increase the number of Russian online stores in the online market to facilitate Chinese consumers to purchase high-quality Russian products.
Russian girl Mikakova Natalia (third from left), who is studying at East China Jiaotong University in Jiangxi Province as a Sino-Russian exchange student, enjoys her classmates playing at school (photographed on October 31, 2019).Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Hu Chenhuan
While China-Russia all-round practical cooperation continues to deepen, people-to-people and cultural exchanges between the two countries have become increasingly close, and the public opinion foundation of China-Russia friendly society has become more solid. The two heads of state personally promoted and continued the friendly tradition of holding each other’s national theme years. Following the “Year of Youth Friendship Exchange”, “Year of Media Exchange”, “Year of Local Cooperation and Exchange” and “Year of Scientific and Technological Innovation”, 2022 and 2023 were designated as ” Year of Sports Exchange”. Within this framework, a series of activities such as the 2nd Moscow “Confucius Cup” Chinese Sports and Cultural Art Competition, the China-Russia Sports Carnival, and the 3rd China-Russia Winter Youth Games were held successively. A new chapter in Russian friendship.
On July 14, 2022, in Moscow, Russia, martial arts enthusiasts performed martial arts in the second Moscow “Confucius Cup” Chinese sports, culture and art competition.Published by Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Alexander)
Yuri Tavrovsky, a professor at the People’s Friendship University of Russia, said that under the leadership of the two heads of state, Russia and China have actively cooperated in the past ten years, and it is believed that the leaders of the two countries will open up more new areas for bilateral cooperation in the future. .
Make a strong voice for fairness and justice
In 2013, President Xi Jinping came to Russia for his first overseas visit after taking office as president. When delivering a speech at the Moscow Institute of International Relations, President Xi Jinping proposed to the world for the first time to promote “the establishment of a new type of international relations centered on win-win cooperation” and called on the international community to establish a sense of a community of shared future in which “I am among you and you are among me”.
Over the past ten years, the concept of building a community with a shared future for mankind has been written into important documents of multilateral mechanisms such as the United Nations and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization many times, reflecting the common aspirations of people of all countries and gathering broad consensus in the international community. Anatoly Torkunov, dean of the Moscow Institute of International Relations who listened to President Xi Jinping’s speech in 2013, said that the concept of building a community with a shared future for mankind has become more and more realistic since it was put forward ten years ago.
At present, the world is once again standing at the crossroads of history. Whether to regain the Cold War mentality, provoke division and confrontation, and group confrontation, or proceed from the common well-being of mankind, practice equality, mutual respect, and win-win cooperation. Facts have repeatedly proved that containment and suppression are unpopular, and sanctions and intervention are doomed to fail.
On February 9, 2018, in St. Petersburg, Russia, Russian children watched the cultural performance of Sichuan style in the “China-Russia Local Cooperation and Exchange Year” event.Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Lu Jinbo
At a critical juncture in human history, President Xi Jinping made a major judgment that “the world is undergoing major changes unseen in a century,” and President Putin pointed out at the Valdai Forum that “humanity is in an era of great change.”
The more turbulent the world is, the more China-Russia relations should move forward steadily. As the founding members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, China and Russia have given full play to their respective advantages in concept leadership and strategic planning to continuously promote multilateral cooperation. The scope of the organization has gradually expanded from the initial security to political, economic, and humanistic fields, and has become a perfect international order, It is an indispensable constructive force to promote global and regional development and maintain the security and stability of member states.
China, Russia and other emerging market countries have joined hands to establish the BRICS mechanism. Under the framework of this mechanism, China, Russia and other countries have actively promoted the reform process of global economic governance, and jointly voiced their voices on a series of major international and regional issues, effectively enhancing the representation and representation of emerging market countries and developing countries in global affairs. say. Today, with the rise of anti-globalization trends such as populism and trade protectionism, developing countries represented by the BRICS countries have become the new “engine” of economic globalization.
On July 6, 2016, in Irkutsk, Russia, Chinese and Russian musicians performed on the same stage at the special concert of “China-Russia Media Exchange Year”.Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Bai Xueqi
As permanent members of the UN Security Council and important members of global and regional organizations such as the G20 and APEC, China and Russia play a leading role as major powers, adding impetus to the multipolarization of the world and the democratization of international relations, and contributing to global strategic balance and Provide stability. On global and regional affairs such as the Korean Peninsula, the situation in Afghanistan, and the Iranian nuclear issue, China and Russia share the same position and cooperate closely.
Right now, the crisis in Ukraine remains the focus of global attention. It has been more than a year since the crisis escalated. China upholds an objective and fair stance, actively promotes peace talks, promotes the international community to form a joint force, and plays a constructive role in peacefully resolving the Ukrainian crisis. In February this year, China issued the document “China’s Position on the Political Solution to the Ukraine Crisis”, which proposed a comprehensive, comprehensive and feasible solution to the crisis, which was widely recognized by the international community, including the parties involved. In the same month, China released the “Global Security Initiative Concept Paper”, which provided more systematic thinking and more feasible measures to solve global security problems.
Ten years of peers, never stop. China will continue to work with Russia to follow the trend of the times, use unity to hedge against division, and replace confrontation with cooperation, and make new and greater contributions to the progressive cause of peace and development of mankind. (Reporters Han Mo, Zhao Yan, Zhu Ruiqing, Zhang Yuan)