Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) left yesterday on an official trip to Moscow, and state media quoted him as saying China wants trade with Russia to quadruple to up to US$80 billion a year by the year 2010.
The trip reflects the strategic importance Beijing places on ties with its former Cold War rival.
Hu said the two countries should promote cooperation in trade, energy, military affairs and science and technology, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
It said he made the comments in interviews last week with Russian media in Beijing.
The two governments have developed what they call a strategic partnership since the 1991 Soviet breakup, but trade and financial ties are small.
China is the biggest foreign buyer of Russian arms and is eager to gain access to Russian oil and gas to fuel its booming economy.
Hu and Putin were to sign a declaration affirming their nations' call for respecting international law and establishing a stronger UN role internationally, according to a Kremlin official.
The two governments say they want a "multipolar world," a reference to their opposition to US domination of international affairs.
Some Russian officials and lawmakers have accused the US of instigating regime change in the former Soviet republics of Georgia, Ukraine and, most recently, Kyrgyzstan, over the past 18 months -- a claim the US administration has denied.
Hu also will visit Kazakhstan to attend a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
The regional security grouping led by Russia and China also includes the Central Asian nations of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
China and Russia have been concerned about an increased US influence in Central Asia since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, which have resulted in the deployment of US troops in the former Soviet republics of Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan for carrying out operations in neighboring Afghanistan.
Moscow and Beijing are due to hold their first joint military maneuvers, an exercise seen by many observers as Russia's response to the cooling of relations with the US and other Western nations. China has spent billions of dollars on Russian fighters, missiles, submarines and destroyers in an effort to modernize its arsenal and back up frequent threats to attack Taiwan.
Putin visited China last October and the two governments settled the last of their decades-old border disputes.
China also has endorsed Moscow's bid to join the WTO.
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