China, Russia to sign friendship pact

By Vladimir Radyuhin

MOSCOW, JULY 15. As China's President, Mr. Jiang Zemin, arrived in Moscow on Sunday to sign a landmark friendship treaty, senior Russian officials emphasised unwavering opposition the two countries shared towards the U.S. National Missile Defence (NMD) plans.

Russia and China take ``identical and unchanged positions'' in favour of retaining the existing system of arms control accords, strengthening non-proliferation regimes and keeping outer space free from arms, the Interfax news agency quoted the Foreign Minister spokesman, Mr. Alexander Yakovenko, as saying.

A highly-placed Foreign Ministry official denied any split between Russia and China on the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, which the U.S. wants to scrap.

``We take a common position on missile defences and will pursue coordinated and concerted action on the issue,'' the official, who asked not to be named, told foreign reporters in Moscow.

Joint opposition to the proposed U.S. missile shield is believed to be a driving motive behind the 20-year treaty of ``good neighbourliness, friendship and cooperation'' the Russian and Chinese Presidents will sign on Monday. However, Russian officials have maintained the pact is not directed against any other country and is solely designed to lay a solid long-term basis for bilateral cooperation. ``The treaty will formulate principles of Russian-Chinese relations to guarantee their stability and continuity for generations to come,'' the Russian Foreign Ministry official said.

``Stability and continuity'' are key notions in the Russian- Chinese treaty. China, which had earlier rebuffed repeated Russian proposals to sign a political treaty to replace the Soviet-Chinese friendship pact which expired in 1980, now wants a bilateral treaty to ensure that its interests do not suffer as Russia seeks economic and political integration with the West. Beijing is also keen to have Russia on its side in a likely future showdown over Taiwan, which would pit China against the U.S.

Media reports said the treaty commits Russia and China to coordinating their policies, not only to uphold the independence and sovereignty of the two countries, but also to defend their ``legitimate interests in the world arena''.

For Russia, the treaty is important as a guarantee that the two countries will not revert to hostility and border conflicts that marred their relations in the 1960s and 1970s.

Under their new treaty, Russia and China will renounce territorial claims to each other. ``This is very important in view of the 4,000-km border between our two countries, and considering the tortuous history of border delimitation talks that have dragged on for the past several decades,'' the highly- placed Russian diplomat said.

To date, Russia and China have demarcated 98 per cent of their border, but are still at logs over three strategically placed islands in the mouth of the Amur river in the Far East. In 1969, the two countries came close to a full-fledged war, when China attempted to take by force the Damansky Island on the Amur.

Russia is also worried about massive illegal migration of Chinese to its sparsely populated Siberia and the Far East. Some Russian analysts believe that China's traditional expansionism, aggravated by its population boom and a growing shortage of resources, poses a direct threat to Russia.

``America's military threat to Russia is purely mythical, whereas China's military threat is patently obvious, but for some reason there is a taboo to debate it in this country,'' Dr. Alexander Sharavin of the Institute of Political and Military Analysis wrote in the influential Izvestia daily on Saturday. ``China's territorial claims to Russia have been consistent and unrelenting.''

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : International
Previous : MP calls for English test for immigrants
Next     : Peres denies plan to weaken Arafat