China and Russia plan to boost scientific cooperation with focus on artificial intelligence and other strategic areas
- Focus on technological collaboration comes as Moscow and Beijing are being brought closer together in face of growing pressure from the West
- Vladimir Putin has designated 2020 as the year of Russian-Chinese science cooperation with the focus expected to be on communications, AI and ‘the internet of things’
China and Russia are moving to expand their scientific collaboration after promising to work on developing information technology, artificial intelligence and other strategic areas.
With Moscow still under US and European economic sanctions imposed following its annexation of Crimea in 2014, and Beijing facing increasing Western concern about its tech industry, the two countries have promised to make next year a focus for science and innovation.
On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree, designating 2020 as the year of Russian-Chinese Scientific, Technical and Innovation Cooperation.
Meanwhile, the Chinese foreign ministry has identified fields such as communications technology, artificial intelligence and the “internet of things” as promising fields for collaboration.
The focus on tech cooperation was agreed by Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping in June, when they stressed that China-Russia relations had entered a “new era of comprehensive and strategic partnership”, a unique upgrade in Beijing’s foreign policy lexicon.