An enduring partnership for mutual growth

By Chen Yurong

The heads of state of China and Russia held talks in Beijing on Wednesday, guiding the two countries' efforts to conduct comprehensive strategic coordination of even higher quality.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination and the 25th anniversary of the signing of the China-Russia Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation.

Over the past 25 years, China and Russia have followed the spirit of the treaty and maintained close coordination in political, economic, cultural and other fields.

In 2019, bilateral relations were elevated to a comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era, placing cooperation across all fields on the fast track.

Both sides agreed to extend the treaty on Wednesday, which further consolidates the legal foundation for permanent good-neighborliness and friendly cooperation between the two countries.

Under the strategic guidance of the heads of state of China and Russia, the two countries have developed a mature relationship that has become an example for a new type of major-country relations.

China and Russia are each other's good neighbors, friends and partners. They pursue a partnership rather than an alliance, and their relations are not targeted at any third party.

Both nations respect each other's sovereignty and territorial integrity, continuously deepen mutually beneficial and win-win cooperation in various fields, and work hand in hand on international affairs.

Over the past decade, economic cooperation between China and Russia has achieved rapid growth.

The two countries are each other's important trading partners. Sub-national cooperation between the two sides is thriving.

The China-Russia Expo, which is being held in Harbin, Northeast China's Heilongjiang province, has become an important platform for connecting enterprises of both sides, deepening supply chain cooperation and boosting people-to-people exchanges.

This year is also the beginning of the China-Russia Years of Education. Both sides have seen more than 80,000 people studying in each other's country, and cooperated to establish more than 150 educational institutions and projects.

Coordination between China and Russia has weathered changes in the international situation, and become a "stabilizer" in a world fraught with uncertainty.

Chen Yurong is a senior research fellow in the Department for World Peace and Security Studies at the China Institute of International Studies.

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