China-Russia

China is full of confidence in the prospects of cooperation between the two countries, said Chinese Vice President Han Zheng, while meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Vladivostok, Russia on Wednesday on the sidelines of the ninth Eastern Economic Forum (EEF). 

Han said at this new historical starting point of the 75th anniversary of the establishment of bilateral ties, China-Russia relations in the new era continue to operate at a high level under the strategic guidance of the two heads of state, according to Xinhua News Agency. 

The Vice President said China is full of confidence in the prospects of cooperation between the two countries. China highly values the role and influence of the Eastern Economic Forum, actively supports and participates in the development and cooperation of Russia's Far East region and stands ready to share development opportunities with Russia, so as to benefit the two peoples with more achievements and promote common development and revitalization. 

Putin pointed out that thanks to the two countries' joint efforts, "relations between Russia and China have reached unprecedented heights," according to Russia's TASS.

"I hope that we will be able to search for and find new areas for cooperation during our meeting today and our joint work at the Eastern Economic Forum tomorrow," said the Russian President. 

"We particularly attach great importance to cooperation between regions," Putin added.

Putin is expected to attend Thursday's plenary session to discuss economic and geopolitical topics, Xinhua reported.

The ninth EEF, running from Tuesday to Friday, has attracted more than 6,000 people from 76 countries and territories, official data showed.

"The business activities conducted on the forum sidelines will take interaction with countries of the Asia-Pacific region to a new level and enable us to develop specific solutions to unlock the economic potential of the Russian Far East," Anton Kobyakov, adviser to the Russian President and Executive Secretary of the EEF Organizing Committee, said in a press release sent to the Global Times on Wednesday.

"The attendance of senior Chinese officials and Chinese companies underlines China's active attitude in participating in the development of Russia's Far East region, sending a clear signal of enhanced China-Russia friendly cooperation for mutual benefits," Li Xin, director of the Center for Russian and Central Asian Studies at the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

Given some Western countries' intensifying unreasonable suppression and the unilateral sanctions levied on Russian and Chinese companies, there is a need for the two sides to expand cooperation in more fields, Li said.

Linking and combining the strategy of full revitalization of northeast China and Russia's development of the Far East will not only benefit the two countries but also economic cooperation in Northeast Asia, contributing to the goal of maintaining peace and stability in the area, according to Li. 

Mutually beneficial cooperation between Russia's Far East and China's Northeast region showed strong momentum in recent years. 

Han and Putin also attended the opening ceremony of the 8th China-Russia Expo in Harbin, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, in May. 

While an increasing number of Chinese companies are being set up in the Far East region, infrastructure projects like the Heihe-Blagoveshchensk cross-border highway bridge and the Tongjiang-Nizhneleninskoye railway bridge play an important role in the increase in trade turnover.

In 2023, China-Russia two-way trade exceeded $240 billion, close to 1.7 times that of a decade ago, which is a good indication of the all-round cooperation of mutual benefit that continues to deepen between the two countries.

"The quality and quantity of China-Russia bilateral trade continues to see improvement in 2024," Zhang Hong, an associate research fellow at the Institute of Russian, Eastern European and Central Asian Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

In addition to traditional sectors like energy and machinery, there is huge potential for the two sides to deepen economic and trade cooperation in emerging industries including green development and digital economy, according to Zhang.

Cooperation on the local level between China and Russia has gained a firmer foothold over recent years, with official and business delegations from China's Northeast region and Russia's Far East paying mutual visits to explore opportunities in economic and trade cooperation.