An external strategy blueprint unveiled by Moscow will strengthen the strategic partnership between China and Russia, a senior Russian diplomat said yesterday in Beijing.
"Russia will continue to deepen its strategic partnership with China. The Sino-Russian cooperative relation has become a vital element to world and regional stability," said Igor Morgulov, the Russian Minister Counselor to China.
Morgulov made the remarks at a press briefing on Russia's new Foreign Policy Concept, approved by President Dmitry Medvedev on July 12.
The concept lays out the general direction and key priorities of the Kremlin's foreign policy.
"The newly ratified foreign policy paper is an extension of former president Putin's concept released in 2000," Morgulov said, adding that Moscow's fundamental approaches on key international issues have not changed.
One distinguishing point in the new policy paper is Russia defining itself as a "Eurasian power" for the first time, indicating that the Kremlin has adopted a balanced and all-round approach to foreign policy, Morgulov said.
In particular, Moscow is very keen to boost ties with emerging powers such as Brazil, India and China in the Asia-Pacific region, he said. Together with Russia, the countries are collectively known as the BRIC nations.
"The recent meeting of the BRIC leaders during the Group of Eight Summit in Japan held the symbolic meaning of potential cooperation," he said.
Elaborating on Sino-Russian relations, Morgulov said the most important task is to boost economic cooperation, which lags "far behind" the political cooperation between the two countries.
"Enhancing economic cooperation with China is Moscow's top priority and the two countries have already established a dialogue mechanism between the prime ministers," he said, adding that the two sides are currently discussing a large-scale economic cooperation between Russia's Far East and China's Northeast region.
The trade volume between China and Russia is expected to increase from $48 billion last year to $60 billion this year.
Still, the stated ambition to foster relations with emerging powers in the Asia-Pacific by no means indicates that Moscow will overlook relations with the West, he said.
"Given its unique geographic location, Russia is a country that looks both to the East and the West," Morgulov said.
In this regard, he reiterated Moscow's concern over NATO's expansion.
In Medvedev's new foreign policy paper, NATO's expansion, especially the granting of its membership to Ukraine and Georgia, remains a top concern for Russia.
"Russia opposes NATO's further expansion eastward and is very concerned about NATO's new military bases getting closer and closer to Russia," Morgulov said.
Source: Xinhua
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