On May 20, President Xi Jinping held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was on a state visit to China, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
Looking back, President Xi Jinping revealed the deep logic behind the leapfrog development of bilateral relations:
“It is because both sides have continuously deepened political mutual trust and strategic coordination with the perseverance of ‘withstanding thousands of blows,’ expanded cooperation in various fields with the spirit of ‘reaching a higher level,’ and defended international justice and fairness and promoted the building of a community with a shared future for mankind with the courage of ‘staying calm amidst turbulent times.'”
Looking ahead, President Xi Jinping pointed out: “Unswervingly promoting the long-term, healthy, stable, and high-quality development of China-Russia relations is a strategic choice made by both sides based on the fundamental interests of the two countries and the global development trend.”
How to promote the long-term, healthy, stable, and high-quality development of bilateral relations? Leadership guidance is the greatest advantage and fundamental guarantee.
Since 2013, President Xi Jinping and President Putin have met more than 40 times, guiding bilateral relations to proceed steadily and far. This time, the two heads of state held small-scale and large-scale talks respectively, engaging in in-depth face-to-face exchanges for three hours, and conducted strategic communication on a series of major issues, fully demonstrating the firm will of both sides to continue developing bilateral relations with a long-term perspective.
On this occasion, the Chinese and Russian heads of state jointly announced the continued extension of the Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation between China and Russia, signed and issued a joint statement on further strengthening comprehensive strategic coordination and deepening good-neighborly and friendly cooperation. At a joint press conference after the talks, President Xi Jinping emphasized “building higher-quality political mutual trust and firmly supporting each other strategically,” pointing out that “political mutual trust is the most distinctive feature of China-Russia relations,” sending a positive signal to the world that China and Russia are carrying forward the past and continuously consolidating the foundation of political mutual trust.
Continuously strengthened all-round cooperation injects strong momentum into the long-term, healthy, stable, and high-quality development of bilateral relations.
On the afternoon of the 20th, the two heads of state jointly attended the opening ceremony of the tenth national theme year—the “China-Russia Year of Education”; earlier, the two heads of state sent congratulatory letters to the 10th China-Russia Expo respectively.
From people-to-people and cultural exchanges to economic and trade interactions, cooperation between China and Russia in various fields has deepened and solidified. Bilateral trade volume has exceeded 200 billion US dollars for three consecutive years, confirming the solid foundation and great potential of cooperation between the two countries.
President Xi Jinping pointed out the direction for future cooperation between the two countries: “Use higher-quality comprehensive strategic coordination to support the development and revitalization of each country, and promote the construction of a more just and reasonable global governance system.”
This year marks the beginning of China’s “15th Five-Year Plan.” President Xi Jinping pointed out that both sides should seize the momentum to deepen the alignment of China’s “15th Five-Year Plan” with Russia’s development strategy up to 2030, promote the upgrading of mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields, and serve the development and revitalization of both countries. President Putin responded: “Russia is full of confidence in the future of bilateral relations.”
Looking around the world, the long-term, healthy, stable, and high-quality development of China-Russia relations will also better benefit the world.
Over the years, the two countries have always adhered to equality, mutual respect, trustworthiness, and win-win cooperation, making important contributions to maintaining international fairness and justice and promoting the building of a new type of international