Russian President Dmitry Medvedev (center) talks with Chinese and Russian WWII veterans after visiting a memorial to Soviet soldiers who died during the Japanese occupation of northeast China. Medvedev arrived in the city of Dalian yesterday at the start of a three-day official visit to China. He will meet President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao in Beijing today.

RUSSIAN President Dmitry Medvedev arrived in China yesterday for talks with Chinese leaders and called on young people in the two countries to continue the friendship forged during World War II.

The Russian leader arrived in the northeastern port city of Dalian in the morning and visited a war memorial where he met more than 20 Chinese and Russian war veterans who took part in China's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1937-1945) during WWII. Medvedev laid flowers at a monument commemorating Soviet war martyrs.

In his meeting with the veterans, Medvedev said Russians and Chinese forged a profound friendship in their joint fight during the war, and such friendship constituted the solid foundation for the relationship between the two countries.

He thanked the veterans for their contributions to peace and thanked China for renovating the memorial, one of over 70 commemorating Soviet Union martyrs in China. The memorials have been refurbished to mark the 65th anniversary of the end of WWII.

Dalian was the first stop of Medvedev's three-day visit to China. It is his second visit to the country since he assumed the presidency in May 2008.

He landed in Beijing later yesterday and will meet President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao today.

Russia is the world's biggest energyproducer. Although Europe remains Russia's largest export market for gas and oil, both China and Russia have been seeking to diversify their energy sources and markets.

In late August, Russia opened its section of a 1,000 kilometer crude oil pipeline from eastern Siberia to China, which will connect Russian oil fields with Daqing, a major oil production base in northeastern China.

At the time, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said cooperation would not be limited to oil exports, and that Russia welcomed Chinese help in exploiting its abundant resources in the Far East and in expanding refining and marketing.

During Putin's visit to Beijing late last year, the two countries signed dozens of pacts worth US$3.5 billion.

• soviet [´səuviit] a.苏联的 n.苏维埃 (初中英语单词)
• occupation [,ɔkju´peiʃən] a.职业的；军事占领的 (初中英语单词)
• yesterday [´jestədi] n.&ad.昨天；前不久 (初中英语单词)
• premier [´premiə] n.总理 a.首要的 (初中英语单词)
• resistance [ri´zistəns] n.抵抗；抵制；耐力 (初中英语单词)
• monument [´mɔnjumənt] n.纪念碑；古迹 (初中英语单词)
• foundation [faun´deiʃən] n.建立；基金；地基 (初中英语单词)
• energy [´enədʒi] n.活力，精力；能力 (初中英语单词)
• export [ik´spɔ:t] vt.&n.输出，出口 (初中英语单词)
• minister [´ministə] n.部长；大臣 v.伺候 (初中英语单词)
• cooperation [kəu,ɔpə´reiʃən] n.合作；协作 (初中英语单词)
• abundant [ə´bʌndənt] a.丰富的；充分的 (初中英语单词)
• memorial [mi´mɔ:riəl] a.纪念的 n.纪念物 (高中英语单词)
• northeast [,nɔ:θ´i:st] n.东北 a.东北的 (高中英语单词)
• profound [prə´faund] a.深奥的；渊博的 (高中英语单词)
• relationship [ri´leiʃənʃip] n.关系；联系；亲属关系 (高中英语单词)
• presidency [´prezidənsi] n.总统的职位(任期) (高中英语单词)
• producer [prə´dju:sə] n.生产者；演出人 (高中英语单词)
• limited [´limitid] a.有限(制)的 (高中英语单词)
• billion [´biljən] num.万亿 (高中英语单词)
• anniversary [,æni´və:səri] n.周年纪念(日) (英语四级单词)
• northeastern [,nɔ:θ´i:stən] ad.&a.向东北(的) (英语六级单词)
• august [ɔ:´gʌst] a.尊严的；威严的 (英语六级单词)
• kilometer [´kilə,mi:tə] n.=kilometre 公里 (英语六级单词)