GETTING CLOSER
▶ China-Russia relations see significant progress in 2018
Growing uncertainty and hurdles haven’t prevented the two countries from improving relations, Russian Ambassador to China Andrey Denisov told a news conference in Beijing on Wednesday.
“There’s a special environment cultivated in our ties, which could help tackle all the problems based on reciprocal principles,” Denisov said.
The ambassador said the leadership of the two countries has made sweeping changes in 2018.
China undertook a massive cabinet restructuring during the “two sessions” while Russian President Vladimir Putin was re-elected in March.
“Most importantly, China and Russia have been enhancing government cooperation, with five intergovernmental commissions, which is unique in international collaboration,” Denisov added.
Top leaders of the two countries had four meetings in 2018, and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev co-chaired the 23rd regular prime ministers meeting in Beijing.
“We’ve been receiving many more delegations and have very tight schedules every day. I think staff in the Chinese embassy in Moscow has the same feeling,” he said.
China and Russia have established the “Yangtze River-Volga River” and “China’s Northeast-Russia’s Far East” regional cooperation mechanisms, which have yielded results, Denisov noted.
“For now, Russian federal states and Chinese provinces and regions have established 363 pairs of friendly relations, and at least two more Russian federal states are considering strengthening regional cooperation with central and western regions of China,” he said.
People-to-people exchanges are one of the most interesting facets in ChinaRussia cooperation, according to the ambassador.
During the 2018 FIFA World Cup, which was held in Russia this summer, nearly 100,000 Chinese fans visited the country, he added.
“In the first nine months, Russia recorded a total of 1.5 million Chinese tourists arriving in the country, and it is planning to further simplify the process for visa-free entry,” Denisov said.
While China and Russia aim to surpass $100 billion in bilateral trade this year, many countries are facing a chaotic global trade system, which has also affected China and Russia, the envoy told the Global Times.
“Russia, India and China have agreed to strengthen multilateralism including preventing protectionism and pushing forward WTO reforms,” he said, noting that questions under the Russia-India-China cooperation framework will be given priority.
The three countries will also together step up work in the Eurasian region, Denisov added.
Russia, India and China agreed during the recent G20 meeting in Argentina to increase trilateral cooperation and work closely in important multilateral mechanisms including the G20, BRICS and Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), the Xinhua News Agency reported on November 30.
This year also marks the 40th anniversary of China’s reform and openingup, which the ambassador deemed “unprecedented.”
“I was a young man working in the embassy 40 years ago, and
I was impressed by this principle: ‘emancipate our minds, seek truth from facts,’ put forward by Deng Xiaoping,” he said.
China has become a major driving force of the world economy, and millions of people have been lifted out of poverty. This path of the country’s development is surely unique, according to Denisov.