|
Safeguarding core interests underlined as shared mission for the two countries Leaders, officials and scholars have hailed the mature, unique
partnership between Beijing and Moscow that outperforms traditional
alliances, helps each other ensure strategic security at their doorsteps
and provides support for multilateralism and peace across the globe. They made the observation as the two countries recently held a series
of events to celebrate the upcoming 20th anniversary on Friday of the
signing of the landmark China-Russia Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and
Friendly Cooperation. Beijing and Moscow extended the treaty last month, with President Xi
Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin issuing a joint statement
officially announcing the extension. The two countries have worked together to effectively promote
multilateralism, oppose hegemony and power politics and contain the
impulses of some Western countries for fanning a new Cold War and bloc
confrontation, officials said. When addressing a grand reception on Sunday in Beijing to mark the
anniversary, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi defined the
bilateral comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership as "not an
alliance, but better than an alliance". In the past 20 years, under the guidance of the treaty, China-Russia
ties have reached historic highs, and the two countries should further
build staunch supporting pillars for world peace and security, Wang
said. He underlined three shared missions for the two countries to step up
what he called "side-by-side collaboration": safeguarding their core
interests, promoting their development and revitalization, and
championing regional security and stability. The two governments have thoroughly resolved the border issue left
over from history and secured constant peace at their shared boundaries
of over 4,300 kilometers. Annual bilateral trade volume has increased nearly 14-fold in the
past two decades, from $8 billion in 2000 to $107.77 billion in 2020. Recently, Russia's Finance Ministry completed an asset structure
adjustment to the National Wealth Fund, the country's sovereign wealth
fund, and the share of the Chinese yuan was increased from 15 percent to
30.4 percent. "It shows Russia's confidence in the prospects of China's economic
growth and China-Russia cooperation," Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang
Wenbin said on Thursday. At the event on Sunday, Russian Ambassador to China Andrey Denisov
said that the two sides have stayed true to the treaty and achieved
fruitful results through cooperation in various fields, and Russia-China
cooperation has demonstrated strong stability and tenacity,
particularly amid the COVID-19 pandemic and the changing global
landscape. Xu Bu, president of the China Institute of International Studies,
said the two countries have achieved constant progress in their ties as
they "exercise mutual respect and mutual trust, pursue no alignment or
confrontation, target no third countries and subscribe to win-win
cooperation". As a result, their strategic cooperation has become increasingly
mature, and their ties have "become a role model between major powers in
modern times", Xu said at a recent seminar. In an interview with the US television broadcaster NBC last month,
Putin voiced support for China on issues related to the Xinjiang Uygur
autonomous region and Taiwan, and he debunked attempts by some Western
countries to alienate or sabotage China-Russia relations. "We do not believe that China is a threat to us," Putin said, noting
that the two countries enjoy "a high level of trust and cooperation in
all areas". Chen Wenling, chief economist at the Beijing-based China Center for
International Economic Exchanges, said the two-way partnership is not
only a country-to-country relationship, but also "an anchor of global
peace and balance". "Without the cooperation of the two major countries, some people may
be bolder and increasingly fearless when prioritizing their own national
interests above the world's interests, bullying and suppressing other
countries in order to maintain their hegemony," Chen wrote in a recent
article published on a news website affiliated with the National
Development and Reform Commission. International order As long as China and Russia further unswervingly champion the whole
of humanity's common interests, a fair and just international order and
the basic principles of international relations, more countries will
follow their lead and stay undisturbed, and "the world will not be
messed up too much and will be full of hope", she added. Since both China and Russia have announced that they will not form a
strategic alliance to deal with other countries, this unique
nonalignment policy "enables the development of the world's diversity
and lays a solid foundation for world peace", Hong Kong-based China
Review News said in a commentary. The two permanent members of the UN Security Council have shown that
"equal cooperation can be achieved as long as countries respect each
other and do not interfere in internal affairs", and "a no-win situation
cannot be avoided unless cooperation is based on mutual benefits and
mutual respect", it added.
| 
Related News
