Russian President Dmitry Medvedev yesterday signed a series of political and commercial deals on his second state visit to China, a sign of closer strategic ties between the two world powers.
President Hu Jintao held talks with Medvedev yesterday in Beijing. They celebrated the completion of a long-awaited China-Russia oil pipeline, the largest bilateral project between the two countries.
The 999-kilometer pipeline runs from Angarsk in Russia to Daqing in northeast China. It is part of a loan-for-oil deal that was reached in 2009. Under it, China makes a US$25 billion long-term loan to Russia while Russia supplies China with 300 million tons of oil from 2011 until 2030.
"The smooth completion of the pipeline project is a model for the two countries' mutually beneficial win-win cooperation and a milestone for China-Russia energycooperation," said Hu.
The two countries also signed 15 deals on cooperation covering coal, gas supply, energyefficiency, renewable energy, nuclear power, power grids and banking.
Medvedev's three-day visit will take him to Shanghai, where he will attend Russia's National Pavilion Day at the ongoing World Expo today.
Medvedev arrived in northeast China's port city of Dalian on Sunday to start his state visit.
There, he met with veteran Chinese and Russian soldiers who participated in China's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1937-1945), underscoring the "deep bonds" between the Russian and Chinese peoples.
Medvedev also met with top legislator Wu Bangguo and Premier Wen Jiabao yesterday.
The China-Russia pipeline is set to start bringing 300,000 barrels per day across the border on January 1, giving Russia a new oil export route.
China will start testing its section at the end of October and Russia will begin test-pumping about 600,000 tons of oil in November or December, according to Chinese and Russian officials.
Hu and Medvedev also signed a joint statement to comprehensively deepen their strategic partnership of coordination, a description of bilateral ties decided upon in 1996.
Hu said the China-Russia strategic partnership of coordination "stands at a new starting point" as he called for a "new era" of bilateral ties.
While the energy deals are the spotlight of the world's attention during Medvedev's China visit, analysts said the deals are just one part of bilateral trade ties.
"Even though energycooperation is an important part of China-Russia trade, it is, of course, not enough to constitute all of the two nations' trade," said Jiang Yi, a Russia expert with Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, adding that the two countries enjoy cooperationpotential in areas like investment, high-tech, agriculture and finance.