Russia is open to cooperation

Mutual support of the two parties in national security and territorial integrity is of special value. Russia consistently supports China's position with regard to Taiwan, the Tibet autonomous region and the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, and considers it absolutely unacceptable to take part in any coalitions or programs targeted at the containment of China.

The building of Russia's trade and economic ties with China is becoming a task of strategic significance. While certain successes were reached in recent years (bilateral trade grew to $60 billion in 2010), Russia still lags far behind the volume of China's trade with other major partners.

Moreover, China and Russian can strengthen cooperation as members of BRICS. The group came about as a reaction to the collapse of the bi-polar and then one-pole world order, as well as to the serious crisis in the global system the respective countries shared a natural drive to protect their interests.

The BRICS countries represent the most dynamic force in the world economy, and all of them stand for profound reform of the financial and economic architecture of the world.

The initial four participants of the BRICS Brazil, Russia, India and China, South Africa joined the group in December 2010 account for 26 percent of the world's territory, 42 percent of its total population and 14.6 percent of its total GDP. At present, those four countries, owing to their higher economic growth rates, provide about 50 percent of global economic growth. Their growing economic influence gives them a political weight and authority in world affairs.

Participants understand that the resolution of world problems, especially in the current complex geopolitical situation, is not possible without close interaction with other partners, such as the US, the European Union, Japan, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, as well as developing countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

It should be emphasized that China and Russia, as well as the other BRICS countries, while pooling their efforts to stand by their respective interests, do not pursue any confrontation objectives. There is no talk of building any kind of a closed economic group or a political alliance.

The author is chairman of the Russia-China Friendship Association and director of the Far Eastern Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences. The article is excerpts of his essay delievered at the recent forum "China and Asia: Prospects for Common Development" held by China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations

(China Daily 10/12/2011 page9)