People’s Daily Online, Beijing, June 1 (Xu Xiangli) On June 1, the "Russian Yellow Book: Russian Development Report (2018)" new book launch conference was held in Beijing, which was jointly organized by Russian Institute of Eastern Europe and Central Asia of China Academy of Social Sciences and Social Science Literature Publishing House. The report pointed out that China and Russia have strengthened exchanges and cooperation in all aspects, and the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between China and Russia will develop in depth.
High-level exchanges between the two countries have been frequent, and political mutual trust has been enhanced. In July 2017, the Chairman of the Supreme Leader visited Russia and signed the Joint Statement of People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the Russian Federation on Further Deepening the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership of Cooperation with President Putin, reaffirming the commitment of the two countries to further develop and consolidate the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of cooperation based on equality, trust, mutual support, common prosperity and friendship from generation to generation, and promoting deepening political mutual trust, pragmatic cooperation, security cooperation, people-to-people exchanges and international cooperation; President Putin attended the Belt and Road International Cooperation Summit held in Beijing and the BRICS leaders’ meeting held in Xiamen. The Chairman of the Supreme Leader also held talks with President Putin during the Astana Summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the Da Nang Summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, and reached many important consensuses on Sino-Russian relations and international and regional issues of common concern. The heads of state of China and Russia jointly led the cooperation between the two countries in the fields of politics, economy, diplomacy, security and humanities to a higher level. At the end of October, Premier Medvedev visited China and met with Premier Li Keqiang. The two sides signed a series of cooperation documents in the fields of investment, energy, agriculture, customs, finance and aerospace. The leaders of the legislatures of the two countries meet regularly. The China-Russia Investment Cooperation Committee, the Energy Cooperation Committee, the Humanities Cooperation Committee, the Prime Minister’s Regular Meeting Committee, and the Intergovernmental Cooperation Committee of Northeast China, the Russian Far East and Baikal have been effectively functioning, and various government departments of the two countries have maintained good exchanges and cooperation.
Economic and trade cooperation has developed rapidly. The rising international oil price, the improvement of Russian economic situation and the active promotion of Chinese and Russian governments have promoted the development of Sino-Russian economic and trade cooperation. The trade volume between China and Russia has increased steadily and the trade structure has continued to improve. According to the data of the General Administration of Customs of China, the trade volume between the two countries was US$ 84.07 billion in 2017, a year-on-year increase of 20.8%. Among them, China exported US$ 42.88 billion to Russia, up 14.8% year-on-year; Imports from Russia reached US$ 41.19 billion, a year-on-year increase of 27.7%. China ranks as Russia’s largest trading partner, and the trade volume between China and Russia accounts for 14.8% of Russia’s total foreign trade. Russia is also an important trading partner of China.
China-Russia energy strategic partnership of cooperation has been further consolidated. In 2017, Russia maintained its position as the largest source of crude oil and electricity imports in China, and exported 59.8 million tons of crude oil to China, up 13.9% year-on-year. On January 1, 2018, with the Mohe-Daqing pipeline, the second branch of the Sino-Russian crude oil pipeline, put into commercial operation, the annual scale of crude oil imported by China through the Sino-Russian crude oil pipeline will increase from 15 million tons to 30 million tons. The Sino-Russian East Line natural gas pipeline project progressed smoothly, and the Amur natural gas processing plant started construction. In December, the first production line of Sino-Russian Yamal LNG project was put into production. This project is one of the largest liquefied gas projects in the world, with China Petroleum and Natural Gas Group and Silk Road Fund holding 20% and 9.9% shares respectively.
Financial cooperation has expanded. In March, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China announced the official launch of RMB clearing bank business in Moscow, which will further facilitate the use of RMB in Sino-Russian trade and investment, and promote Sino-Russian cooperation in trade, investment and finance. At present, China Industrial and Commercial Bank, China Agricultural Bank, China Bank, China Construction Bank, China Development Bank and The Export-Import Bank of China have all set up subsidiaries and representative offices in Russia, and their cooperation with Russian banks is getting closer and closer. Rusal issued two panda bonds with a total of 1.5 billion yuan in China.
Military security and military technical cooperation have developed in depth. In June, the defense ministers of the two countries signed the "Road Map" for Sino-Russian cooperation and development in the military field from 2017 to 2020, which made an overall plan for Sino-Russian military cooperation in these four years. The Chinese and Russian navies held a joint military exercise codenamed "Maritime Joint -2017", which was conducted in two stages: in the Baltic Sea in July, in the Sea of Japan and in the Sea of Okhotsk in September. The theme of the joint exercise is joint rescue and joint protection of the safety of maritime economic activities, and the subjects are anti-submarine, air defense and anti-ship training, which improves the ability of the Chinese and Russian navies to carry out maritime defense operations. In December, the two armies held the "Air and Space Security -2017" second Sino-Russian joint headquarters computer-simulated missile defense exercise in Beijing. The goal of the exercise was to jointly respond to the attacks of ballistic missiles and cruise missiles on the territories of the two countries. At the end of 2017, Russia delivered the second batch of 10 Su -35 fighters to China, which was carried out according to the supply agreement of 24 Su -35 fighters signed in 2015.
Humanities cooperation links the past with the future. 2017 is Russia’s "China-Russia Media Exchange Year", and the media of the two countries have carried out a variety of activities, further promoting media cooperation and non-governmental friendship between the two countries. The two countries agreed to hold the Sino-Russian year of local cooperation and exchange in 2018-2019, which will continue the national-level "theme year" activities. In terms of education, not only the number of students studying each other’s language and culture in their respective countries is increasing, but also with the enrollment of Shenzhen MSU and the Sino-Russian Joint Research Institute of Shanghai Jiaotong University-Moscow Aeronautical Institute, Sino-Russian cooperation in running schools has achieved gratifying results. The number of Chinese and Russian tourists visiting each other’s territory is increasing. In 2017, China became the largest tourist source country in Russia, and Russia was the fifth largest tourist source country in China.
Close diplomatic cooperation. When the Supreme Leader visited Russia, he signed the Sino-Russian Joint Statement on the Current World Situation and Major International Issues with President Putin. The document expounds the common propositions of China and Russia on international relations and international law and their consistent positions on the current international situation and major issues, and emphasizes that the two sides will continue to carry out diplomatic cooperation to cope with the threats and challenges in the current international and regional situation. As always, China and Russia have maintained coordination and cooperation in promoting world multipolarization and strengthening the central role of the United Nations in international affairs. Both countries oppose the unilateral deployment of anti-missile systems in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region by some countries under the pretext of the so-called missile threat, thus seriously damaging the strategic security interests of countries in the region and negatively affecting the international and regional strategic balance. China and Russia jointly promoted the expansion process of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and the Astana Summit of the organization officially accepted India and Pakistan as members. The two countries have also conducted fruitful diplomatic cooperation on international issues such as counter-terrorism, Syria, Afghanistan and Internet security, as well as in multilateral mechanisms such as BRICS, G20 and APEC.
