China and Russia held their eighth round of military consultations in Beijing Tuesday, with broad consensus reached and both parties vowing to strengthen cooperation in the future.

 

The half-day of talks was led by Xiong Guangkai, deputy chief of General Staff of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, and Yury Baluyevsky, first deputy chief of General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces.

 

The parties exchanged views on the regional and international security situation, major international issues, cooperation between the two countries' armed forces and other issues of common concern.

 

A broad consensus was reached, with both parties agreeing that developing friendly ties between the two armed forces is an important component of the strategic cooperative partnership between the two countries.

 

They shared the view that maintaining and further developing friendly cooperation between the two armed forces is not only helpful to the defense and military construction of the two countries, but also important to the bilateral strategic partnership.

 

Xiong pointed out that this was the eighth round of military consultations between China and Russia, and that consensus had been reached on almost all issues discussed during each round. He said this indicated that both countries shared common concerns and similar positions on many international and regional issues and had the same wish to further boost bilateral ties.

 

Xiong also expressed his appreciation to the Russian government for its adherence to the one-China principle and its objection to any words and actions of the Taiwan authority aiming to change Taiwan's position and separate Taiwan from China.

 

Baluyevsky said that Russia hopes to strengthen bilateral consultations with China on major international and regional issues.

 

(Xinhua News Agency March 17, 2004)