President Jiang Zemin Thursday urged the deepening and expansion of cooperation with Russia under the one-year-old Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation.
Jiang made the remarks during a meeting with Russian Security Council Secretary Vladimir Rushailo.
According to a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, Jiang hailed the treaty as "in line with the trend of development in the world today as well as the common wish for stability, peace and development.''
Jiang noted the efforts made by both countries in the past year to implement the treaty, holding that the efforts indicate that the treaty is in the long-term strategic interests of both countries.
Rushailo was quoted by the Chinese spokesman as telling Jiang that it is the strategic goal of Russia to maintain and develop good-neighborly ties and friendly cooperation with China.
China and Russia celebrated the first anniversary of the signing of the treaty on Tuesday. In congratulatory letters exchanged between Jiang and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, both leaders attributed much of the progress in bilateral ties in the past year to the treaty.
Coinciding with the celebration, Chinese Vice-Premier Li Lanqing was in Russia for an official visit.
During his meeting with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov, Li said that China and Russia had maintained high-level exchanges and that such bilateral cooperative mechanisms were very effective.
Li spoke highly of the Treaty of Good-neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation, saying that the signing of the document has injected great vigor into the development of bilateral ties.
The vice-premier also told Kasyanov that Premier Zhu Rongji expects him to visit China again this coming August for the seventh regular meeting of the two prime ministers in Shanghai.
Kasyanov hailed the role played by the treaty, saying that the document has demonstrated the active growth of bilateral ties and helped lift these ties to a new phase.
(China Daily July 19, 2002)
