Russia-China partnership not aimed against third parties - FM Lavrov

MOSCOW, April 7. /TASS/. The strategic partnership between Russia and China is not aimed against any third party and is developing to serve the interests of both countries, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday. "Our strategic partnership development is transparent, not aimed against anyone and, first of all, serves interests of our countries and peoples, both in the context of bilateral relations and on the global arena," Lavrov said after talks with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Moscow. "We are open to cooperation with all partners, who are ready to cooperate on the basis of mutual respect of interests." "We are protecting our legal rights in the system of international relations," Lavrov said. "We want the system to be more just and democratic, where interests of all countries will be respected and various concepts of somebody’s exclusiveness and self-proclaimed leadership will not be imposed on." "The rich content of our current relations is unprecedented in the whole history of relations between our peoples," the Russian foreign minister said. "However, they [the relations] still hold the tremendous potential, which will definitely provide for their further strengthening." The Chinese top diplomat echoed Lavrov’s statement that the Russian-Chinese bilateral relations were not directed against any third party adding that the both countries "follow the principle of mutual respect and mutually beneficial cooperation." Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is on an official visit to Moscow between April 6 and 8 and is expected to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin later on Tuesday to discuss preparations for Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s visit to Moscow on May 8. In mid-March, Putin had a meeting with Li Zhanshu, head of the General Office of the Communist Party of China, in Moscow, where they also discussed Xi’s forthcoming visit. Reports in March suggested that Xi had given a positive response to the Kremlin’s invitation to visit Russia and confirmed he would join in May ceremonies in Moscow marking 70 years since Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War II. Putin is expected to travel to Beijing in September to attend World War II commemorations. Russia and China recently achieved a significant boost in their bilateral relations, primarily in the economic, energy, space and scientific as well as military spheres. One of the milestone deals between the countries was signed during Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to China last May and it was an agreement on the Russian natural gas supplies to China. Russian energy giant Gazprom and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) signed a 30-year contract on Russian natural gas supplies to China via the eastern route worth a total of $400 billion. Over the past few years, the two countries have noticeably increased the intensity of their contacts. China has become Russia’s major trade partner while Russia is in the top ten of China’s main trade partners. In 2002-2013, bilateral trade hiked from $12 billion to $89.2 billion. Russia and China are planning to bring their bilateral trade turnover to $100 billion by 2015 and to $200 billion by 2020. Read more