China, Russia pledge to enhance cooperation

Top legislator says bilateral relations have reached unprecedented heights

China's top legislator Li Zhanshu and leading Russian officials have agreed to further strengthen bilateral comprehensive cooperation and continue to promote coordination between the legislatures of both countries as part of efforts to build stronger ties.

Li, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of China, on Saturday completed an official visit to Russia, during which he held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and the heads of both houses of the Russian parliament.

The Russian leaders congratulated China on the 70th anniversary of the founding of the PRC and hailed the great achievements China has made in the past seven decades. The two sides also exchanged congratulations on the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Beijing and Moscow.

Li said that when he met with Putin it was observed that China-Russia relations had reached an unprecedented height and entered a new era for greater development opportunities. This has been achieved under the strategic guidance of the heads of state of the two countries.

In the current international situation, China and Russia should strengthen mutual support, jointly build up strategic capacity and erect security barriers that protect the two neighbors from external threats, while promoting the construction of a new type of international relations that can lead to a global community with a shared future for mankind, Li said.

He called on the two sides to push the levels of mutual trust and strategic cooperation on the political front to an even higher mark. The partners should also strive for new heights in economic and trade cooperation in order to move forward in their comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination to meet the needs of a new era, Li said.

For his part, Putin lauded Russia-China ties as a model of relations between the world's major countries.

He said the comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination between the two countries for a new era, built in compliance with international law, is in the interests of the two countries and the two peoples.

Noting that the bilateral cooperation in various areas is steadily advancing toward the established goals, Putin urged the two countries to further strengthen all-around cooperation and develop their ties on the basis of existing achievements.