Beijing, 3 Mar (Xinhua) -- Carrying on the past and forging ahead in a steady and far-reaching manner -- comprehending the milestone significance of President Xi Jinping's visit to Russia from four dimensions
Xinhua News Agency reporter Ye Shuhong and Fan Yu
President Xi Jinping paid a state visit to Russia from March 3 to 20. This is the first stop of President Xi Jinping's foreign visit after being elected president after President Xi Jinping once again made Russia his first foreign visit after being elected president. This historic visit has a special timing, complex background, rich meaning and fruitful results, fully demonstrating China's awe-inspiring adherence to an independent foreign policy of peace and its broad mind for promoting world peace, and will certainly inject new impetus into the development of China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination in the new era, inject more stability into the complex international situation, and have an important and far-reaching impact on promoting world multipolarization and democracy in international relations.
In today's world, the evolution of the century-old changes has accelerated, and the balance of international forces has been profoundly adjusted. The historical trend of peace, development, cooperation and win-win results is unstoppable, while hegemonism, unilateralism and protectionism are still rampant, the Cold War mentality and bloc political dregs are on the rise, the contest between the two currents and the two roads has become more intense, and the world has entered a new period of turbulence and change. At the critical moment when the international community is confused and anxious, President Xi Jinping once again has insight into the general trend, raises the flag and directions, and is the mainstay, injecting stability into the chaotic and intertwined international situation with the certainty of China's foreign policy, demonstrating the extraordinary strategic determination, political wisdom and courage of the leaders of the world's major countries.
This historic visit marked the "height" of the strategic guidance of the two heads of state. Head-of-state exchanges are the compass and fixed star of China-Russia relations, and it is precisely under the personal drawing and strategic guidance of the two heads of state that China and Russia have successfully embarked on a path of strategic mutual trust and friendly neighborly coexistence among major countries, and set a model for a new type of international relations. During the visit to Russia, the two heads of state held a long period of sincere, friendly and fruitful talks and exchanges, exchanged in-depth views on bilateral relations and major international and regional issues of common concern, and reached many new important consensuses. The two sides also signed and issued the China-Russia Joint Statement on Deepening the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership of Coordination in the New Era and the Joint Statement on the Development Plan for Key Directions of China-Russia Economic Cooperation until 2030, making plans and arrangements for the development of bilateral relations and cooperation in various fields in the next stage.
Consolidating and deepening the comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination between China and Russia in the new era is a strategic choice made by the two sides based on their respective national conditions, which conforms to the fundamental interests of the two countries and peoples, and conforms to the trend of development of the times. The high degree of mutual trust between the two heads of state has provided strategic guidance and a strong political guarantee for the comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination between China and Russia in the new era. The important consensus reached by the two heads of state during this visit will further consolidate the high degree of political mutual trust between China and Russia and lead bilateral relations to always move steadily and far-reaching in the right direction. Alexander Semyonov, director of the Department of Oriental Languages of the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Foreign Ministry, believes that the close exchanges between the leaders of the two countries provide strategic guidance for the two sides to establish communication, coordinate positions and quickly solve problems, and President Xi Jinping's visit marks a new height of Sino-Russian head of state diplomacy and is an important milestone in the development of China-Russia relations.
This historic visit has expanded the "breadth" of mutually beneficial cooperation between China and Russia. Jointly drawing up a new vision, blueprint and new measures for the development of China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination in the coming period is an important part of President Xi Jinping's visit to Russia. During the visit, the two heads of state signed the Joint Statement on the Development Plan for Key Directions of China-Russia Economic Cooperation before 2030, proposing to promote the high-quality development of China-Russia economic and trade cooperation, inject new impetus into the comprehensive promotion of bilateral cooperation, maintain the rapid development momentum of trade in goods and services between the two countries, and commit to significantly increasing the trade volume between the two countries by 2030, and clarify that the two sides will expand the scale of trade and optimize the trade structure, develop an interconnected logistics system, Bilateral economic cooperation will be carried out in eight key directions, including improving the level of financial cooperation.
The development of China-Russia relations has a strong endogenous driving force, and an all-round and multi-level cooperation pattern between the two sides has been formed, and the characteristics of basic stability, strong complementarity and full resilience continue to appear. Compared with 10 years ago, the bilateral trade volume between China and Russia has increased by 116%, effectively consolidating the material foundation of bilateral relations and providing important impetus for their respective economic and social development. During the visit, the two sides pledged to strengthen coordination and precise policies, effectively enhance the level of practical cooperation between the two countries in various fields from a strategic height, and transform the advantages of high-level political relations into practical results for the benefit of the two peoples. Maxim Maksimov, associate professor of Plekhanov University of Economics in Russia, believes that President Xi Jinping's visit to Russia has injected strong impetus into the sustained and high-level development of bilateral relations, and brought new and greater opportunities for the continuous expansion of pragmatic cooperation in various fields between the two sides in the future.
This historic visit has heightened the "heat" of the traditional friendship between China and Russia. Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Russia, the peoples of the two countries have worked hand in hand to create the future and share the fruits of development, and the foundation of friendly social and public opinion between the two sides has become more solid. During his talks with President Putin, President Xi Jinping talked about a detail: During this visit, many Russian people showed their own hands to greet the places where our motorcade passed, which made me deeply feel that China-Russia relations have a deep foundation of public opinion. China and Russia are good neighbors linked by mountains and rivers, good friends who help each other, and good partners in sincere cooperation. During this visit, President Xi Jinping once again stressed that China and Russia are each other's largest neighbors, and consolidating and developing long-term good-neighborly and friendly relations with Russia conforms to historical logic and is China's strategic choice, which will not change due to a momentary event.
Fellowship with the heart is what lasts forever. During the visit, the two heads of state reached a series of important consensus on inheriting the traditional friendship and tightening the ties between the people, including close people-to-people exchanges, hosting the China-Russia Sports Exchange Year, making good use of local cooperation mechanisms, promoting active counterpart exchanges between sister provinces, states and sister cities of the two countries, encouraging personnel exchanges between the two sides, actively resuming tourism cooperation between the two countries, and carrying out summer camps and joint school-running activities, so as to continuously enhance mutual understanding and friendship between the two peoples, especially the youth. Anna Dongchenko, a researcher at the Center for Chinese Culture Research at the Institute of Chinese and Contemporary Asian Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said that President Xi Jinping's visit to Russia has further tightened the emotional and cultural ties between the two countries, explored more opportunities for exchanges and cooperation, and made the traditional friendship deeply rooted in the hearts of the two peoples.
This historic visit demonstrates China's "strength" in safeguarding world and regional peace. The more complex the international situation, the more prominent the need for China and Russia to strengthen communication and cooperation. In the face of rampant unilateralism and hegemonism, consolidating and strengthening strategic cooperation between China and Russia is even more precious. On the occasion of the visit, President Xi Jinping and President Putin issued signed articles respectively, both calling China-Russia strategic cooperation the "mainstay" of maintaining international peace and security. President Xi Jinping stressed that the relationship between the two countries goes far beyond the bilateral scope and is of great importance to the world pattern and the future and destiny of mankind. The two sides will promote exchanges and cooperation in various fields in accordance with the principle of good-neighborliness, friendship and win-win cooperation. Under the new historical conditions, the two sides will view and grasp China-Russia relations from a broad and long-term perspective and make greater contributions to the cause of human progress.
The visit comes at a time when the crisis in Ukraine is escalating, and peaceful and rational voices around the world calling for a de-escalation of tensions and a ceasefire to stop the war are accumulating. Since the comprehensive escalation of the Ukraine crisis, China has always adhered to an objective and fair position and actively persuaded peace and promoted talks. During the visit, President Xi Jinping had frank and in-depth exchanges with President Putin on the Ukraine crisis. The more difficult it is, the more space must be left for peace; The sharper the contradictions, the more we cannot give up our dialogue efforts, and China calls for a positive response from Russia. The Russian side reiterated its commitment to resuming peace talks as soon as possible and welcomed China's willingness to play an active role in resolving the Ukrainian crisis through political and diplomatic means. Marie Agnès Anona, president of the Madagascar National School of Administration, believes that China has always proceeded from the perspective of safeguarding world peace and promoting common development, and believes that China can play a constructive role in promoting a political settlement of the Ukrainian issue.
Spring of the year is the first, and everything comes first. The development of China-Russia relations is still sober and calm after the baptism of years, and is now on the road of carrying on the past and forging ahead into the future. With the joint efforts of China and Russia, there will be impetus for world multipolarization and democracy in international relations, and global strategic balance and stability will be guaranteed. As fellow believers on the road of development and revitalization, China and Russia are committed to promoting a comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination, which will surely benefit the two countries and peoples and make new contributions to human development and progress. (Xinhuanet)