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Putin visit to highlight oil issue, war game
(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2006-03-10 14:44
Russian President Vladimir Putin will make an official visit to China
later this month to discuss energy cooperations and closer
military ties, according to Shanghai's Oriental Morning Post.
The Russian president's visit, at the invitation of Chinese
President Hu Jintao, is scheduled on March 21-22.
Chinese President Hu Jintao
(L) shakes hands with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on the
sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation ( APEC) summit in
Pusan, South Korea in this November 18, 2005 file photo.
[Xinhua] |
The two presidents will attend the opening ceremony of the 'Year of Russia'
and a high-level Sino-Russian business forum, as well as signing a series of
cooperation agreements.
Cooperation between Russia and China is becoming closer and more effective,
with high-tech, energy, and world dispute convergence increasingly featuring on
the two countries' common interest lists.
In 2004, China imported 12 million tons of crude oil from Russia, accounting
for almost 10 percent of China's total crude oil imports. Russia is now in the
preparatory stage of constructing a pipeline to transport oil and gas between
the two countries. On January 8, Putin said the construction of a cross-border
crude oil pipeline will be confirmed in April and work will begin this summer.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said China would try hard to
increase cooperation with Russia on energy issues which have become an integral
part of economic and trade exchanges in the Asia-Pacific region.
The Oriental Morning Post also reported that the possibility of staging
routine joint military exercises in both countries may be discussed during
Putin's visit.
The first large-scale Sino-Russian military drill took place on East China's
Shandong Peninsula and the Yellow Sea last August. The use of strategic bombers
and high-precision weaponry drew the world's attention.
The two countries signed an agreement on joint military exercises during
President Hu Jintao's visit to Russia last year, marking the success of the
joint exercise and the new level of the two countries' forces.
A 2006 Sino-Russia joint military exercise is already on the two presidents'
agenda. The two countries will work to increase the scale of the exercise and
improve the military hardware used.
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