NANJING, November 23. /TASS/. Russia and China are united in their vision that a state should be sovereign, a foundational idea in both their constitutions, State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said at a meeting with professors and students of Nanjing University studying the Russian language.
"We are united - both Russia and China - by one task, which is documented in our constitutions, the fundamental laws of our countries. Building sovereign states," Volodin said in response to a student who asked him to name an advantage of Russian and Chinese state systems.
Volodin pointed out that the sovereignty of Russia and China helped both countries achieve results, while a different approach, when analyzing the situation in other countries, would not have led to such progress and results.
"The loss of sovereignty means the loss of statehood as a result. And if we look at the numbers and facts, there are not many countries left that have absolute sovereignty. But it is not only statehood, it is the protection of customs, traditions, history, culture, language. Everything that forms the identity of a nation. And faith," Volodin said.
The State Duma speaker specified that the loss of sovereignty, on the other hand, leads to an increased external influence "on a country's development, where history is blurred, and the culture also changes."
"Perhaps there is also a loss of language that occurs. As a result, the country no longer exists. Therefore, our country and China support a multipolar world and a fair global order that allows all countries to protect their sovereignty and develop according to their goals and objectives," Volodin summarized.
Impact of sanctions
"We live in a time of challenges, but it is not only a time when we face problems, it is a time of opportunities. Over the past 10 years, 17,500 sanctions have been imposed on Russia," Volodin recalled, adding that trade wars and restrictions have also been imposed on China.
However, the speaker noted, if in 2012 (according to the World Bank) China was second, and Russia was sixth among the world's economies, last year China ranked first, Russia became the fifth-largest economy in the world, the biggest economy in Europe. "Here is the bottom line, here is the result of unfriendly actions. We see that those who started the sanctions war have suffered from it themselves," he concluded.
Visit to China
The delegation of the State Duma headed by Volodin is paying an official visit to the People’s Republic of China that started on November 21. In Beijing, the Speaker of the State Duma met with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress Zhao Leji. The deputies arrived in Nanjing on November 22. On the same day, Volodin met with Xin Changxing, Secretary of the Jiangsu Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China and Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Jiangsu Provincial People's Congress. On Thursday morning, the Duma speaker and deputies laid a wreath at the monument to the hero pilots of the Japanese Resistance War in Nanjing.