Interfax's Interview

The Year of Russia in China is nearing its end. What contribution has it made to the development of Russian-Chinese relations?

Although we will be summing up the results of the Year of Russia in China after it is over, there are grounds for some fundamental conclusions already.

The leaders of our countries, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Hu Jintao, meeting on the sidelines of the G8 summit in St. Petersburg on July 17 this year, highly praised the project of National Years (the Year of Russia in China in 2006 and the Year of China in Russia in 2007), which is unprecedented in the history of our relations, and they were satisfied to note the successful organization of events within the framework of the Year of Russia in China. This appraisal is our common success accomplished due to the joint efforts by the Russian and Chinese organizers.

According to our estimates, over 200 events have been held by now. There are quite solid reasons to expect that all, or possibly even more, events that were planned for our national Year will in fact be held.

In line with the design of the National Years as large-scale strategic projects, we have managed to make the events comprehensive and actually all-embracing. They deal with virtually all areas of Russian-Chinese relations, i.e. top- and high-level contacts, trade-economic and humanities cooperation, and interregional ties. All areas of cooperation display increased activity and dynamism, which confirms the achievement of the principal objective of the National Years as the promotion of the development of the entire range of bilateral relations.

Another key political event - Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov's official visit to China - is scheduled for November 9-10. It is planned that Fradkov and Chinese State Council Premier Wen Jiabao would take part in the unveiling ceremony of the Russian National Exhibition and the Week of Promotion of Russian-Chinese Investment Cooperation, and also the official closing ceremony of the Year of Russia in China.

We attach particular significance to preparations for the events in the final phase of the Year of Russia in China. This primarily concerns government-level events, such as the Russian National Exhibition and the Week of Promotion of Investment Cooperation. We are convinced that the implementation of these major events will be accompanied by a high level of representation and will provide substantial preconditions for taking Russian-Chinese cooperation to a qualitatively new level.

The humanities component of the Year of Russia in China is very rich in its content, based on a Russian Culture Festival, which is successfully ongoing now. Broad circles of the Chinese public have been given the opportunity to see the latest achievements in all areas of our culture. A number of events have also been held to promote cooperation in education, healthcare, and sports.

Experts in Moscow and Beijing share the opinion that the Russian-Chinese political relationship has reached an extraordinary high level. How justified are the pinions of certain experts that such a convergence between our countries has an anti-American motive and is based on the desire to oppose Washington's attempts to set a unipolar world?

Russian-Chinese relations are at a very high level indeed now. Our countries have developed the practice of exchanges of opinions on a very wide range of relevant international and regional problems, including the Iranian nuclear program and the nuclear problem of the Korean Peninsula. We are also fruitfully interacting under the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, whose fifth annual summit was held in Shanghai in June 2006.

At the same time, it would be absolutely unwarranted to say that there is some desire to oppose the U.S. Our countries assume similar positions regarding the need to consider various concepts of a world order in the contemporary circumstances and to respect the right to independently choose models of development and reform. Our politics is directed at equal and mutually beneficial cooperation based on the existing system of international law with all partners in the world, especially such an influential global power as the United States. This is exactly why Moscow and Beijing are talking about multi-polarity as the fundamental principle of coexistence now. Moreover, you should bear in mind that both Russia and China are currently concentrated on reconstruction processes at home rather than on creating together various unions or coalitions.

What do you think are the principal reasons for the fact that trade and economic relations and investment cooperation are so far lagging behind the level of political relations between China and Russia? Are both sides making enough efforts to change this situation?

 You are right, both Russia and China have made numerous statements in the past several years at various levels, including at the top level, to the effect that the rate at which the two countries are developing bilateral trade and economic relations is inadequate to the level of mutual understanding and interaction they have achieved in political affairs. It seems that what is implied is a significant potential of bilateral trade and economic ties, which has not yet been used fully. This shows in a misbalance of raw materials in Russian exports to China with the simultaneous decline in the share of high technology products, including machinery and other equipment, insufficient development of production cooperation, and a relatively low level of mutual investments.

At the same time, the leaders of our countries, officials from relevant ministries and other agencies, and members of the business community are making efforts to overcome this situation, and there have been certain changes in this area, although both Moscow and Beijing perfectly understand that there is still a lot of hard work ahead. I could mention among positive examples the implementation of major investment projects, like the construction of a business neighborhood in St. Petersburg Krasnoselsky district (the project is entitled The Baltic Pearl), in which overall Chinese investments should reach $1.31 billion. A similar project is being implemented in Moscow  I mean the construction of the Chinese business center Park Huaming, in which over $300 million would be invested.

So, although the business program of our National Year has not yet been exhausted, you can conclude already that Russian-Chinese trade and economic cooperation has a high growth potential.

Is Russia planning to increase energy cooperation with China? What other economic sectors Russia views as promising, including in terms of drawing Chinese investment? Is space exploration among them?

Certainly, the step-by-step implementation of bilateral energy projects will significantly contribute to economic growth in both countries and will help improve energy security in the Asian region.

During Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to China in March 2006, the two countries signed a substantial package of documents dealing with energy cooperation, which provided a good incentive to interaction in this area. These agreements were the result of the good joint work of our companies and ministers, and it is pleasing that they were signed in the Year of Russia in China.

Russia has started constructing the Eastern Siberia - Pacific Ocean oil pipeline and is also analyzing the organizational and technological aspects of the design and construction of a pipeline branch linking Skovorodino and the Chinese border. Crude oil is being delivered to China by rail strictly according to schedule, and the volumes of these deliveries are steadily growing. In 2006 alone, Russia has shipped more than 6 million tonnes of oil this way.

The implementation of agreements between Gazprom and the China National Petroleum Corporation is proceeding actively. The two sides have hammered out the principal understandings regarding the dates, volumes, and routes (the Eastern and Western) of gas supplies and principles of pricing.

Russia has also repeatedly pointed to mutual interest in large-scale electric energy exports to China at negotiations with its Chinese partners and support for possible investment and other forms of involvement of Chinese partners in the development of the rich fuel and energy potential of East Siberia and the Far East, which will undoubtedly bring both economic and political benefits to both countries.

Bilateral cooperation in the area of space exploration is also dynamically developing in various sectors. The two countries are satisfied with the way the Russian-Chinese Cooperation Program for 2004-2006 is being pursued. Russia and China signed a total of 67 contracts in 43 areas, from 2001 to September 2006. The two countries adopted a space exploration cooperation program for 2007-2009 in September of this year. Russian and Chinese partners have made progress in cooperation on such projects as the Global Space Observatory/Ultraviolet, Moon Exploration, Fobos-Grunt Mission, Raioastron, the establishment of a Russian-Chinese system of radio-interferometers with an extra-long basis with the use of the existing system of radio-telescopes, and so on.

How pressing is the problem of illegal immigration, especially in border areas, in Russian-Chinese relations now?

We believe this problem is in large part farfetched. Allegations in the media that compact Chinese settlements and steady ethnic communities are being formed in Russia, especially in the Far East, have never been confirmed. What can be considered as the only truly organized communities there are Chinese markets with their internal hierarchy.

No purposeful mass attempts on the part of Chinese immigrants to somehow naturalize on Russian territory have ever been recorded. The number of Chinese who have been granted permanent residence permits on Russian territory is minimal and is equal to several thousand people. Immigration from China is commuting in its nature, because Chinese shuttle vendors and those working under invitations from Russia also travel back home quite dynamically rather than seek to come here to stay, as happens in other countries, for instance, in the U.S., where the number of ethnic Chinese has topped 6 million.

By the way, I would like to note that the number of Russian citizens who visited China in 2005 is nearly three times as high as the number of Chinese citizens who visited our country, but nobody is talking about Russian expansion to China.

Nevertheless, we cannot deny that certain problems do exist. They are in place, and they call for a solution. To this end, a joint Russian-Chinese group dealing with migration issues has been set up, and it should gather for the first meeting in late October. One of the key issues to be addressed at the meeting will be a draft intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in opposing illegal immigration.

Are Russia and China considering the simplification of visa formalities?

The existing visa regime is regulated by Russian-Chinese intergovernmental agreements on individual trips and visa-free group tourist trips. The current visa and visa-free regimes of ties between Russia and China, in the view of both sides, meets the high level of political and economic relations between our countries. The procedures for issuing multi-entry visas for certain categories of residents of border areas in Russia and China have been simplified on a mutual basis of late, and the two countries are working on adjusting certain articles of the Agreement on visa-free group tourist trips with the aim to ensure a healthier development of tourist exchanges.

Are Moscow and Beijing coordinating their efforts on the North Korean nuclear program? Is there any chance to resume the six-nation talks on this problem?

 Russia has steadily favored a peaceful settlement of the nuclear problem of the Korean Peninsula using political and diplomatic means. We consider the six-nation talks involving Russia, North Korea, South Korea, China, the U.S., and Japan an optimal format for discussing and finding a comprehensive solution to all issues related to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. We believe that, despite the well-known difficulties, the six-nation potential has not yet been exhausted. As far as we know, China is assuming a similar position.

The countries involved in the settlement of the Iran nuclear problem seem to have been divided into two camps. On the one hand, there are Russia and China objecting to sanctions against Tehran. On the other, the Western countries inclined to use tougher methods in resolving this problem. What do you think can explain the similarity in Moscow's and Beijing's positions in this issue  political, economic, or other motives?

 As is well known, the problems surrounding the orientation of Iran's nuclear problem did not emerge yesterday. Over the past several years, the international community has been accumulating questions on this issue, to which, unfortunately, Tehran did not always provide exhaustive answers.

Russia's and China's approaches in this problem have been virtually coordinated from the very start. Moreover, our positions are to this or that degree shared by a number of European countries, not to mention Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Therefore, it would hardly be correct to talk about two camps, as you put it in your question.

Russia's and China's approaches toward Iran's nuclear problem have been based not on some opportunistic political or economic interests but on a principled position. Its essence is that, on the one hand, the regime of nuclear nonproliferation and, consequently, reliable guarantees of the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program must be inviolable, and on the other, Iran, as a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty, should enjoy a guaranteed right to develop a peaceful nuclear power industry.

Any specific ways for settling the situation should be developed on the basis of objective judgments rather than under the influence of emotional reactions, while the International Atomic Energy Agency is the most reliable and professional source of such judgments. Both Moscow and Beijing oppose the application of double standards in this and all other cases. We favor the supremacy of international law and the resolution of problems through political and diplomatic methods at the negotiating table.

Our countries also hold the same opinion that the use of force or the threat of its use is absolutely unacceptable. Iran is a major regional state significantly influencing the situation in a vast and quite turbulent region. Talking in the ultimatum language with it or attempts to drive it into a corner are counterproductive. Our Chinese partners and we are making efforts to involve Tehran in resolving regional and international problems through a realistic, balanced, and responsible approach.

Russia and China, on one side, and our Western partners, on the other, with the European Union's active involvement, are continuing to look for ways to overcome this quite difficult situation through both the six-power format and bilateral contacts.

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