MOSCOW, June 3. /TASS/. Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Russia, set to take place on June 5-7, may offer new prospects for political and economic cooperation between the two countries amid Washington’s aggressive policies towards Moscow and Beijing, Russian and Chinese experts said during a video conference call on Monday.
According to Chief Research Fellow at the Center for Russian-Chinese Relations Studies and Forecasting of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Far Eastern Studies Vladimir Petrovksy, relations between Moscow and Beijing have reached a high level.
"President Xi Jinping’s upcoming state visit to Moscow and St. Petersburg offers a very good opportunity to assess the history and the current state of Russian-Chinese relations, as well as their future," the expert said. "In particular, it offers an opportunity to look into the development of relations between the Soviet Union and China, and between Russia and China, from the historical standpoint, and think about what we have achieved and where we will go next," Petrovksy added.
Coordinating approaches
Petrovsky went on to say that the visit came amid US President Donald Trump’s aggressive policy towards China. "It creates a negative atmosphere for the global economy and our leaders will certainly discuss the situation," the expert said. In his opinion, the United States’ aggressive policies give Russia and China "an excuse to focus on efforts to coordinate their foreign policy and economic approaches." At the same time, he doesn’t believe that "Trump’s policy can prompt Russia and China to establish some kind of an alliance to counter such a policy."
"On the one hand, it will run counter to the very essence of Russian-Chinese relations that are not aimed against third countries, and on the other hand, the Trump administration will not be there forever and it is questionable whether Trump will be re-elected for a second term. However, there are a lot of things to think about because Russia and China are in the same position: China is facing serious trade and economic pressure from the US and Russia has to deal with sanctions pressure," he said. "It provides us with a reason to deepen our coordination," the expert added.
Deputy Chief of the Russia’s Foreign Policy Department of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences’ Institute of Russian, Eastern European and Central Asian Studies Li Yonghui is also positive about Chinese-Russian relations. "Russia is the most important neighbor country as far as China’s policies are concerned," she said. "During the visit, the leaders of our countries will outline steps to boost bilateral relations, including ways to combine initiatives such as China’s One Belt One Road and the Eurasian Economic Union," the expert noted.
Senior Researcher at China’s Taihe Institute and former President of the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations Cui Liru, in turn, touched upon the trade war between China and the United States. "The trade war is a very important event that has drawn the world’s attention and it was Washington that launched the mechanism of the war," he said, adding that the US had cited a trade imbalance to get an excuse for its aggressive actions. "The issue has always been in focus, negotiations took place, but at the current stage, the US is trying to change its strategy," Cui Liru emphasized.