Aspiring to forge a "new international order" and offset US global influence, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Jiang Zemin (
"The friendship treaty will bring Russian-Chinese friendship from generation to generation," Jiang said after the signing ceremony at the Kremlin. "This is a milestone in the development of Russian-Chinese relations."
The document comes amid the two countries' mounting concern over US missile defense plans and their attempts to attract more nations into their own orbit.
In a joint statement issued yesterday, Putin and Jiang expressed hope for a "just and rational new international order" to reflect their concept of a "multipolar" world led by the UN, rather than Washington.
The treaty is the first such document since 1950, when Joseph Stalin and Mao Tse-tung (
Jiang arrived Sunday for a four-day visit on the heels of the International Olympic Committee decision at its Moscow meeting to award the 2008 Olympics to Beijing.
"We saw the jubilation of Beijing residents on television and we rejoiced together with you," Putin told Jiang when they sat down for talks in the Kremlin.
Jiang's visit also followed the US' successful test Saturday of a missile interceptor -- a step forward in Washington's quest to build a missile defense system.
In their statement, the two presidents reasserted their view of the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty as the "cornerstone of strategic stability," which must be preserved. They also called for international talks that could curb missile proliferation and make space weapons-free.
Both Russia and China warn that the proposed US missile shield would upset the strategic balance and trigger a new global arms race. China's concerns are potentially even stronger, because its nuclear arsenal is tiny compared to Russia's and even a limited missile defense could erode its deterrent value.
The treaty emphasized that the two nations were not forming a military pact. "The military and military-technical cooperation between the two countries ... is not directed against third countries," it said.
In the treaty, Russia parroted the Chinese Communist Party's claims to Taiwan.
"Russia acknowledges that there is only one China, the government of the People's Republic of China is the only legitimate government representing all of China, and Taiwan is an inalienable part of China," the treaty said. "Russia opposes any kind of independence for Taiwan."
As part of its military buildup, China has already bought billions of dollars worth of Russian jets, submarines, missiles and destroyers during the 1990s, becoming the biggest customer for Russia's ailing military industrial complex.
While arms sales boomed, other trade has grown slowly. The two nations' overall trade volume was US$8 billion last year and US$3.8 billion in January-May this year -- dwarfed by China's US$115 billion annual trade with the US. Russian energy companies and airline makers are losing ground in the Chinese market to Western competitors.
"We have a realistic view of the situation," Putin said. "Russia accounts for just 2 percent in China's trade, but that means that we have good prospects."
Putin and Jiang agreed to expand cooperation in the sphere of oil and gas, energy, aircraft building, communications and new technologies.
Despite the talk of partnership, some analysts have pointed to underlying tensions between Moscow and Beijing. Some in Russia have voiced concern about Chinese migrants overrunning Russia's sparsely populated Far Eastern and Siberian regions, which China claimed during the Cold War.
Even now, Beijing continues to claim several islands on the Amur River that belong to Russia.
Putin and Jiang both tried to downplay the dispute, promising it would be resolved soon.
"I feel optimistic about solving these issues," Jiang said. "We shall do all we can," he added in Russian, smiling.
Putin and Jiang said the Russian-Chinese border from now on will become a border of "eternal peace" and pledged that the sides will jointly resolve "the questions left by history."
To further advance bilateral ties, Putin accepted Jiang's invitation to visit China at an unspecified date next year.
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