Rrussia, China need to coordinate efforts to ensure national security

Russia and China need to "coordinate their efforts" in order to ensure national security, and to fight international terrorism, proliferation of mass destruction weapons and extremism, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said opening the meeting with Cao Gangchuan, the Chinese Minister of National Defense.

Ivanov noted that the Russian-Chinese relations on the whole are developing positively, including in the sphere of military cooperation.

The Kremlin talks between President Putin and President Hu Jintao on Thursday prove this, according to the Russian minister.

The minister also recalled a Chinese proverb: "New clothes are best ones, old friends are best ones." This proverb fully reflects the relations between Russia and China, Ivanov believes.

His Chinese counterpart Cao Gangchuan said he felt "excited about visiting Moscow." "For me it is a return to a very familiar place, because I spent many years here as a student when I was young," the general emphasized.

He was happy at the opportunity to visit Moscow as a member of the delegation accompanying the Chinese president and to discuss with Sergei Ivanov the issues in which both the Russian and the Chinese ministries are interested.

The Chinese minister used to be a student at the Dzerzhinsky Artillery Academy of Russia; he is fluent in Russian. Being the head of the Armaments Department, he has been responsible for purchases of arms in Russia in the past few years.