Share this story!            

China, Russia slam unilateral action

* Joint declaration calls for shunning ‘politics of diktats’
* Hu and Putin vow to boost security and economic cooperation

MOSCOW: Russia and China issued a veiled condemnation of the United States on Friday by signing a joint declaration criticising countries that seek to throw their weight around on the world stage.

“International society should rid itself of ... striving towards monopoly and domination in international affairs,” said the document, signed by China’s President Hu Jintao and Russian President Vladimir Putin after Kremlin talks.

“It is necessary to peacefully resolve differences and arguments, avoid one-sided actions and not resort to the politics of diktats, the threat of force or its use,” the declaration said. Russia, the world’s second-biggest oil exporter, and China, the world’s fastest-growing major economy with a huge appetite for crude, say they want to build on their “strategic partnership.” The Chinese and Russian presidents held a summit Friday aimed at strengthening security in volatile Central Asia and toughening economic ties between these two giants once seen as the West’s main threat in Cold War days.

President Vladimir Putin hailed Moscow’s growing bilateral ties with its communist neighbour, saying “We have resolved almost all the essential political questions between our two countries.”

“There are vast possibilities for interregional cooperation. We intend to develop our military ties and cooperation between our defence ministries,” he said at the close of talks. Chinese president Hu Jintao highlighted what he said were the countries’ common security goals. “We are increasing coordination and cooperation on important regional and international questions, such as guaranteeing stability in Central Asia, the Shanghai group, the form of the United Nations and the nuclear problem on the Korean peninsula,” Hu told journalists.

Hu’s four-day visit, which began Thursday, will take him to energy-rich Siberia, where he will meet regional leaders in the city of Novosibirsk. From there, he will head to a regional security summit in Kazakhstan and then the Group of Eight (G8) summit in Scotland.

The two countries will hold joint large-scale military exercises by the end of this year, Putin said on Friday. On the economic front, a number of agreements were signed aimed at boosting trade ties.

China has been seeking access to Siberia’s vast untapped oil and gas reserves to fuel future growth, although Russian officials have been more low key on a plan to build an oil pipeline to China, extending from another to the Pacific coast.

“Our countries have great potential for continuing their economic cooperation and we intend to realise this potential in future,” Putin said. “There are promising projects in energy, metallurgy, modernisation of transport infrastructure, inter-bank links and joint research in space.” agencies

Home | Foreign

Share this story!