Russia-China partnership at best level in history, says Putin

MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin has said the Russia-China comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination is developing at the best level in history and the prospect is very good.

“There is no need to redefine Russian-Chinese relations. In fact, Russia and China have established a fairly good strategic partner- ship,” said Putin in response to a question by Xinhua news agency during a joint interview by international media outlets in St. Petersburg on Friday. Putin spoke highly of the 19th Communist Party of China National Congress, which he said had created more favourable conditions for further development of bilateral ties in the long run.

“The latest decisions of the Congress had made our relations more stable and predictable not only in the medium period but in the distant future,” he said. Putin also said with China’s active efforts to push forward denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula and its vital role in resolving related issues, the situation on the peninsula has improved noticeably. On the economic front, Putin expressed his satisfaction with the current momentum of bilateral trade relations. “China is our largest trading partner and we have over $ 86 billion trade value each year. We are very satisfied with this,” said Putin, adding that bilateral trade volume is expected to expand .