Spotlight: Russia, China work jointly to strengthen ties, comprehensive cooperation

With frequent high-level exchanges, China and Russia have been working side-by-side to make continuous efforts to strengthen their strategic partnership and seek new ways to boost comprehensive cooperation.

ENHANCED HIGH-LEVEL CONTACTS

On Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks with visiting top Chinese legislator Zhang Dejiang in Moscow to discuss ways to promote all-round cooperation between the two countries and achieve common development.

Frequent meetings between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Putin since 2013 have demonstrated the depth and distinctiveness of China-Russia relations, Zhang, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), said during the meeting.

The two presidents have promoted cooperation in all fields with a broad, strategic, long-term view and paved the way for developing sustainable, sound and deepening bilateral ties, Zhang said.

Zhang's visit aims to actively promote the implementation of the important consensus achieved by Xi and Putin and lift legislative cooperation to a new height in a bid to promote all-round cooperation between the two countries and realize their common development and rejuvenation, he said.

For his part, Putin said his country pays a lot of attention to the Russia-China comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination, and is willing to maintain close exchanges with China, strengthen mutual support and expand pragmatic cooperation in various fields to raise bilateral ties to a new level.

STRENGTHENED EXCHANGES BETWEEN LEGISLATIVE BODIES

During his visit, Zhang also said that China and Russia should strengthen cooperation and exchanges between their legislative bodies so as to promote the two countries' relations.

Cooperation between the NPC of China and the Russian Federal Assembly has achieved fruitful results through regular exchanges over the past years, Zhang said in an address to the first session of the cooperation committee of the two countries' legislative bodies.

The establishment of the cooperation committee provided a broad space for their in-depth, high-level cooperation, he added.

The two sides should further increase mutual support to lay a solid political foundation for the promotion of mutual strategic trust, and exchange their experiences more frequently to benefit the two countries' development and rejuvenation, he said.

Moreover, Zhang said, the two countries' legislative bodies should further boost pragmatic cooperation to provide a legal guarantee for win-win results.

He called for the promotion of an inter-generational friendship to strengthen the social basis for the development of China-Russia relations.

The NPC and the Russian Federal Assembly should also work more closely together in multilateral cooperation to create a sound external environment for common development, Zhang said.

Also on Tuesday, the Chinese top legislator held separate talks with Valentina Matvienko, chairwoman of Russia's Federation Council, and Sergei Naryshkin, speaker of the Russian State Duma.

During the talks, he urged the two countries' legislative bodies to boost local cooperation and youth and media exchanges, so as to accelerate the development of relations between the two countries.

On the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the victory of the World Anti-Fascist War, Zhang said the NPC and the Russian Federal Assembly should actively participate in relevant activities in the two countries and jointly safeguard the fruit of victory of World War II and international justice.

Matvienko and Naryshkin expressed their willingness to work with the NPC to create new forms of cooperation and enrich its content, in a bid to make more contributions to Russia-China friendly cooperation.

They said Russia hopes that the two countries will continue to strengthen cooperation within the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and BRICS, a thriving cooperation mechanism that groups the world's five leading emerging economies -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

Russia and China should maintain close communication and coordination, jointly cope with challenges, and safeguard world peace, stability and development, they said.

REGIONAL COOPERATION

China and Russia have also made concerted efforts to boost their cooperation at the regional level, an important part of the strategic cooperation between the two countries.

During his stay in Russia, Zhang also visited a helicopter plant in Kazan, capital of the Republic of Tatarstan, as well as the Kazan Federal University, where there is a Confucius Institute.

The Kazan Helicopter Plant, which is Russia's main helicopter manufacturer, has established long-term and sound business ties with China and engaged in mutually beneficial cooperation with Chinese companies. Endi