President Vladimir Putin said in Moscow on Saturday that China-Russia strategic partnership was a positive element in the international order and pledged continued efforts to ensure that bilateral ties will progress steadily. 
   
He made the remarks in an exclusive interview with Xinhua prior to his visit to China on March 21-22 at the invitation of Chinese President Hu Jintao.
   
President Putin's visit to Beijing coincides with the launch of the 'Year of Russia in China' in 2006. The President is scheduled to attend the opening ceremony of the event.
   
He said the 'Year of Russia in China' would help strengthen the strategic partnership between the two countries and that Russia hoped to expand bilateral cooperation in science and technology, culture and physical education.
   
The Russian president applauded China's remarkable economic achievements saying the country's technology and education had also advanced rapidly along with its ever-increasing international reputation.
   
Broad prospects existed for bilateral cooperation in the fields of humanities and information exchange, the President noted.
   
"To a large extent our overall impression of each other is based on our past experiences," President Putin said. "Therefore, it's important to let the people of the two countries learn about the real way of life in Russia and China and about the achievements which have been made in recent years."
   
The decision on launching the 'Year of Russia in China' in 2006 and the 'Year of China in Russia' in 2007 met the requirement for promoting bilateral ties, said the President. He added that a series of large events to be held over the two years were aimed at bringing the people of the two countries closer together. This would enrich the creative cooperation with new ideas and activities helping in promoting and bringing the strategic partnership between the two countries to new levels.

To strengthen the understanding and friendship between the two countries it was not enough just to hold some events within the framework of the two Years, said the President.
   
Russia and China should go all out to increase exchanges in science and technology, culture, physical education, youth and tourism, he added. The two countries had already gained experience in cooperating and much had been achieved. 
   
Of his forthcoming visit to Beijing President Putin said he was always very happy to meet with President Hu Jintao and other Chinese leaders. He anticipated that his visit would yield substantial benefits which would assist with the vigorous development of the Russian-Chinese strategic partnership.
   
He hailed the unprecedented development of ties between the two countries saying Russia and China had resolved their major political difficulties which included border issues. Mutual trust between the two countries had risen to a completely new level.
   
The active development of Russia-China relations had shown that being pragmatic and having constructive talks was more effective than holding grudges against each other and being endlessly entangled in historical disputes, said the President. .
   
Both countries had actively cooperated in the international arena, had worked closely with each other in regional and global affairs and were partners in dealing with terrorism and other existing threats, he said. He added that bilateral trade and economic ties were vigorous and investment and cooperation in several high tech areas was strong. 
   
Russia believed there were sound prospects for Sino-Russian relations in all respects to develop further and continued efforts would be made to ensure that bilateral ties went forward steadily, said the President. He indicated that Russia was willing to solve any existing problems in a patient way. 
   
"I firmly believe that such a close strategic partnership conforms to the long-term interests of both countries and their people," said the President. The Sino-Russian strategic partnership was not only becoming a positive part of the international order but was also helpful to the realization of both nations' goals to modernize themselves, he observed.
   
The President said co-ordination and cooperation between Russia and China had become a stabilizing factor in international affairs. "The foreign policies of Russia and China follow similar principles -- pragmatism and safeguarding national interests," he said.
   
"I would like to point out once again that the experience of the Russian-Chinese cooperation clearly indicates we have become a stabilizing factor in international affairs," he said.
   
President Putin identified the fields of Russian-Chinese cooperation on the international front including security, anti-terrorism, prevention of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, the fight against organized crime and drug trafficking, protection of the ecological system and the elimination of poverty and the control of pandemics. The efforts of the international community on a range of subject depended on Russian-Chinese cooperation in many respects, he said. 

On reform of the UN Security Council and the United Nations in general the President said both Russia and China maintained that any such reform should be carried out in a balanced way based on extensive agreement among member countries.
   
He mentioned a joint statement on world order in the 21st century signed with Chinese President Hu Jintao in July 2005, describing it as a very important document.
   
According to President Putin both Russia and China agreed the negative impact of "double standards" on international affairs was obvious; serious problems in arms control and nonproliferation remained and signs of conflict among different countries were making themselves increasingly obvious, he noted.
   
It should be acknowledged, the President said, that such conflict had not only been caused by terrorism and extremism but was also a result of moves towards handling international relations in ideology-based and stereotyped ways. Attempts to forcibly "export democracy" and impose cultures and standards on other people was not the way forward, said the President.
   
He said that the strategic partnership between Russia and China was transparent, was not directed against any third party and was of realistic attempt at establishing a fairer international order. While expressing satisfaction over the momentum of growth in bilateral trade the President called attention to existing problems.
   
A problem area, according to the President, was the irrationality of the structure of Russia-China trade. This was particularly the case with Russia's exports to China which had failed to reflect the development potential of the two countries. He highlighted the fact that Russian machinery exports to China dropped by nearly 50 percent last year.
   
"We believe more concerted efforts should be made to promote Russia's export of machinery to markets in China particularly products of which have clear competitive edge," he said. Energy cooperation between Russia and China was progressing well and had a promising future, added the President.
   
He said the two countries are discussing the possibility of building an oil pipeline from eastern Siberia to China as a branch of the planned oil pipeline which would run from eastern Siberia to Russia's Pacific coast.
   
"Russia's oil exports to China are increasing steadily," he said. "If the proposed oil pipeline is completed oil supplies to China will be significantly increased. Cooperation in the field of natural gas is also of bright prospect," hew added.
   
The President said that cooperation was underway in accordance with the strategic cooperative agreements reached between Russia's gas giant Gazprom and its Chinese counterpart.
   
He said that apart from exporting electricity to China the Russians anticipated attracting investment from China for the construction of large-scale power generating plants which would be able to provide electricity for markets including China.
   
Talking on the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which brings together China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan the President said the SCO had truly become an organization of regional integration with cooperation in economic and social fields being steadily strengthened.
   
The group is seeking new forms of cooperation in order that "our cooperation will generate the most positive impacts on the livelihoods of the 3 billion people in the world who are covered by the SCO," he said.
   
"The SCO will celebrate its fifth anniversary on June 15. The SCO doesn't have a long history but its members have not only completed the tasks set at the founding of the organization but  surpassed the initial goals," he added.
   
Apart from the organization's six founding members the SCO has also taken economically and socially important countries like India, Iran, Pakistan and Mongolia on board as observers, the President commented.
   
The organization continued to work towards safeguarding regional stability and security and combating separatism, extremism and terrorism, he said. 
   
The SCO summit scheduled for June in Shanghai will re-emphasize the founding principles of the group and carry forward the spirit to demonstrate the member states' willingness to map out new ways for cooperating internationally.

(Xinhua News Agency March 20, 2006)