China attaches great importance to relations with Russia

China attaches great importance to its relationship with Russia.

"The new Chinese leadership pays a lot of attention to the strengthening of mutually advantageous cooperation with Moscow," Chinese Chairman Hu Jintao told students and teachers at MGIMO, or the Moscow State Institute of International Relations.

He stressed that China would never engage in expansion, even when it became a well-developed country.

According to his words, the Russian-Chinese Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Good-neighborly Relations laid the foundation of a stable relationship of long duration.

He also said China would go on cooperating with Russia in the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, or the SCO.

China and Russia are Great Powers and permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, which accounts for the fact that they play an important role on the world arena, said Hu Jintao. "Active collaboration between our countries helps support regional and global peace and security," he remarked. According to his words, Russia and China support each other when it comes to vital issues dealing with state sovereignty and territorial integrity, and adhere to the principle that they should respect each other's sovereignty and never be at enmity with each other.

Hu Jintao then highlighted active development of trade and economic relations between the two countries, saying they had succeeded in raising the volume of bilateral commercial operations from 6.5 billion dollars in the 1990s to 12 billion in 2002.

They both keep cooperating with other SCO members in an effort to streamline regional cooperation and fight new challenges and threats.

The Chinese leader also stressed that China strongly condemned the recent terrorist attacks in Chechnya. China and Russia would continue coordinating their positions, supporting each other in an effort to protect common values and interests, and promoting peace, stability and development worldwide, he said.