China-RF military coop successful over past 20 years - expert.

BEIJING, July 21 (Itar-Tass) - Over the past 20 years cooperation
between China and Russia in the military sphere has attained major
success, Director of the Institute of Russian Studies of China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR) Feng Yujun said.

He took
part in a video bridge conference held at the Russian information centre
on Tuesday. The event focused on the forthcoming Russian-Chinese exercise
Peace Mission 2009 and the two countries' cooperation potential in the
spheres of combating terrorism, extremism and separatism.
"In less than 20 years our border has turned into a border of
friendship and interaction," the expert said. According to him,
cooperation between the two countries' Defence Ministries embraces such
spheres as confidence building in the border area, military-technical
interaction, military education and training of personnel, as well as
conducting joint exercises.
Feng drew attention to the fact that in recent years "the two
countries have reached tangible results in the bilateral
military-technical cooperation, and Russia's military equipment has become
one of important modernisation sources for the Chinese army." According to
him, the bilateral cooperation in the military education is also at a high
level. "Many Chinese officers have undergone training in Russia of late
and got there quality education," he noted. As for the joint exercises,
the expert stressed that they are an important part of the bilateral
military cooperation.
Being one of the key Russian research institutions in China, the
Institute of Russian Studies focuses on the research of contemporary
politics, economy, military and diplomacy of Russia and some
Russian-spoken countries. By applying both dynamic and basic research
methodologies, the Institute undertakes all sorts of important projects
within its realm. Main publications include The Trans-Century Russia,
Russians in Ups and Downs, A Survey of the CIS Countries, International
Relations in the Post-Cold War Era, Russian Strategy: The President's
Agenda, Russian Diplomatic Decision-Making Mechanism, Think Tanks in
Russia and so on. The researchers of the Institute have either earned
their degrees in Russia or spent some time there as visiting scholars. The
Institute keeps close academic ties with its counterparts in Russia and
some other countries. The Institute also possesses abundant resources for
research such as Russian newspapers, books and other materials.
China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR) is a
comprehensive research institution for international studies. In
compliance with the directive of the State Council to set up a series of
new institutions for international studies, the predecessor, China
Institute of Contemporary International Relations, announced its official
establishment in 1980. In 2003, the Institute was renamed and upgraded to
China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations. CICIR consists
of 7 institutes, 3 research divisions under direct supervision of CICIR
leaders, 10 research centres and several administrative departments, e.g.
the President's Office. CICIR has now a staff of 380, including
researchers, administrative and logistic personnel, among whom 150 are
research professors or associate research professors.
CICIR's research work includes world strategic, political, economic
and security studies; country and regional studies; China's relations with
other countries, etc. The research findings are either submitted to
relevant government departments as reports or published in academic
journals. Besides, CICIR also undertakes commissioned research projects
and cooperates with its counterparts at home and abroad on issues of
common concern.
CICIR maintains academic exchanges with many research institutions
worldwide, receiving annually hundreds of overseas experts or scholars as
invited guests, stop-over visitors or participants to CICIR-sponsored
seminars, and sending out a number of scholars for further studies,
researches, lectures and bilateral or multilateral international
symposiums.