President Xi Jinping of China is starting his state visit to Russia today (20 March 2023). Ahead of his visit, he has written an article for the Russian media.
Here are some excerpts from his article:
At the invitation of President Vladimir Putin, I will pay a state visit to the Russian Federation. 10 years ago, my first foreign visit after being elected to the post of President of the People’s Republic of China was made precisely to Russia. In 10 years, I have already visited Russia 8 times. Thanks to these trips, which always give great pleasure and results, President V.V. Putin opened a new chapter in the annals of Sino-Russian relations.
China and Russia are the largest neighbors, strategic partners of comprehensive cooperation, leading world powers and permanent members of the UN Security Council. Both countries pursue an independent and independent foreign policy, and consider relations between China and Russia as one of the main priorities in diplomacy.
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China and Russia adhere to the concept of eternal friendship and mutually beneficial cooperation. Bilateral relations are based on the principles of non-alignment, non-confrontation and non-direction against third parties. The two countries firmly support each other in following the path of development according to national realities, in the implementation of development and revival. Mature and stable bilateral ties are constantly gaining new strength and serve as a benchmark for a new type of interstate relations characterized by mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and mutually beneficial cooperation.
My upcoming visit to Russia is aimed at strengthening friendship, cooperation and peace. I am ready, together with President Vladimir Putin, to outline new plans and measures in the name of opening up new prospects for China-Russia relations of comprehensive partnership and strategic cooperation.
Thanks to joint efforts, trade turnover in 2022 amounted to a record $190 billion and increased by 116 percent compared to 10 years ago.
For 13 consecutive years, China has positioned itself as Russia’s largest trading partner. The volume of mutual investments between the two countries continues to grow. A number of strategically significant cooperation projects in the field of energy, space, aviation and transport connectivity are being successfully implemented.
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China and Russia firmly uphold the UN-centric international system and the world order based on international law, as well as the fundamental norms and principles of international relations based on the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, carry out close coordination and interaction within the UN, SCO, BRICS, G20 and others international platforms, and make joint efforts to promote multipolarity and democratization of international relations.
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History and practice show that in the context of global turbulence, Chinese-Russian relations have stood the test of strength due to the fact that we have embarked on the right path of establishing interstate ties.
My upcoming visit to Russia is aimed at strengthening friendship, cooperation and peace. I am ready, together with President Vladimir Putin, to outline new plans and measures to open up new prospects for China-Russia relations of comprehensive partnership and strategic cooperation.
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It is necessary to promote the parallel expansion of the volume and quality of investment and trade and economic cooperation, strengthen political coordination, create more favorable conditions for the high-quality development of investment cooperation, increase the scale of bilateral trade, expand common interests and seek new growth points, form a development structure that is complementary and compatible traditional trade and new forms of cooperation, to continue joint work on pairing the Belt and Road Initiative and the EAEU for institutional support of bilateral cooperation and regional integration.
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Profound changes are taking place in the modern world. Peace, development, cooperation and win-win is an unstoppable historical trend. Multipolarity, economic globalization and democratization of international relations are an irreversible trend.
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In March 2013, I spoke at MGIMO and mentioned that “the interconnection and interdependence of all countries has reached an unprecedented high level. Humanity lives in one global village, becoming a close community of a single destiny.”
The Belt and Road Initiative, the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, and the Global Civilizations Initiative that I later put forward became a useful filling of the essence of the concept of a community with a common destiny for mankind and the means of its implementation, which served as the Chinese version of an adequate response to the changes in the world, era and history.
China and Russia are the largest neighbors, strategic partners of comprehensive cooperation, leading world powers and permanent members of the UN Security Council. Both countries pursue an independent and independent foreign policy, consider relations between China and Russia as one of the main priorities in diplomacy. /// nCa, 20 March 2023
Original text of the article is available at https://rg.ru/2023/03/20/uporno-dvigatsia-vpered-k-novym-perspektivam-druzhby-sotrudnichestva-i-sovmestnogo-razvitiia-kitaia-i-rossii.html