| Russia and China bolster trade friendship The state visit of Chinese President Hu Jintao to Russia, which ended yesterday, culminated in the signing of eight documents, mainly related to the economy. The unity of the two countries in the field of world politics was reflected in the Joint Declaration on International Order in the 21st Century.
In the declaration, Moscow and Beijing demonstrated dissatisfaction with the Western model of the world order, based on the leadership role of Washington. They called on the international community to “completely get rid of the desire for monopoly and dominance in international affairs, attempts to divide states into leading and led.” Putin and Hu recognized the importance of protecting human rights, but pointed out the inadmissibility of interference in the internal affairs of sovereign states.
However, for two huge neighboring countries, it is no less important to form rational and mutually beneficial economic ties. Putin and Hu intend to increase trade turnover three to four times in five years (in 2004 it amounted to about $21 billion). China wants to buy more and more hydrocarbons and wood from our country, but Russia wants to maintain its status as an exporter of mechanical engineering and high-tech products.
Yesterday, Hu Jintao (already in Novosibirsk) approved the idea of accelerating the development of trade turnover between Siberia and the regions of China in the next few years to 10-12 billion dollars annually. This is almost half of the total current volume of bilateral trade; the question is how large the share of unprocessed raw materials will be in Siberian exports. It is no coincidence that at the Novosibirsk Aviation Production Association, Chairman Hu was presented with a model of his newest front-line bomber, the Su-34.
The bilateral communiqué released yesterday did not clarify plans for cooperation in the oil and gas sector. The parties only promised to “provide assistance” to initiatives in this area, “including the project for the construction of an oil pipeline from Russia to China and projects for the joint development of oil and gas fields in the territory of the two countries.” However, on Friday Rosneft signed two specific documents with Chinese oil companies (for more details, see page 7) .
The business partnership between Moscow and Beijing does not exclude sentimental nostalgia. On the eve of the visit of the President of the People's Republic of China, the Russian-Chinese Friendship Society held a ceremonial meeting in honor of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Chen Yun, a prominent figure of the Chinese Communist Party, who served as a liaison to the Comintern in Moscow in the mid-1930s. The assembled scientists and diplomats warmly recalled how in the early 1980s Chen Yun fought to restore cooperation between the PRC and the USSR. Chen Yun's son, Chen Yuan, who heads the China Development Bank, also made a short speech.
An expert in the field of international finance, Chen Jr. belongs to the so-called party of princes - a group of children of Chinese leaders who have occupied a prominent position in the PRC elite. Chen Yuan backed up his sentimental words about friendship with action: in the Kremlin, in the presence of Putin and Hu, he signed an agreement with Vnesheconombank head Vladimir Dmitriev on a loan of $212 million. VEB will use this money from the China Development Bank to finance the production of high-tech Russian products that will be supplied to China national corporation for the export and import of aviation technologies. This is the first time a Chinese bank has directly financed such a high-tech deal. Alexander LOMANOV |
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