Russian ties strong, but relations with Japan still fragile: Chinese Premier Li Keqiang
China’s relations with Russia will not be affected by changes in the international situation or pressure from any third party, Premier Li Keqiang said on Wednesday.
Sino-Japanese relations, however, remained fragile despite signs of improvement, he said.
Russia and China have extensively enhanced economic, security and diplomatic ties in recent years as Moscow faces Western sanctions for its unilateral annexation of Crimea. There have been concerns the closer bond could pose a challenge to the Western-led world order.
Li told the media after his wrap-up speech following the National People’s Congress that China and Russia had a “comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership ” – the highest level in China’s diplomatic tier.
“The relationship is an all-dimensional one,” he said, adding that President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin had met “quite often”. The two leaders met five times last year – the most that Xi met any head of state.
Li made the remarks when responding to a Russian journalist’s question over whether China’s lack of investment in Russia was due to Western countries’ sanction and pressure from powers like Washington.
“China-Russia relations will not be affected by changes in the international situation, nor will it be pressured by a third party. We will continue to push for the progressive development of China-Russia relations,” Li said.
He said ties with Moscow were improving, pointing to China’s
increased oil imports from Russia, which topped eight million tonnes last year. Although overall trade volume had declined, Li
attributed the fall to weaker commodity prices and not any change in relations.
“[Due to] the unlucky decline of major commodity prices, our whole export [sector], not only to Russia, was falling,” he said.
Trade turnover with Russia fell 27.8 per cent to US$68.07 billion last year, while exports dropped 34.4 per cent.
On Sino-Japanese relations, Li said the ties were “not yet solid” and “still fragile,” despite signs of improvement.
“We should uphold the consensus in principles on treating historical issues, and demonstrate consistency between words and actions. I don’t want to see us retrace our steps again,” he said.
Li, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean President Park Geun-hye are to meet this year for a trilateral summit, which was resumed last November after a nearly four-year halt due to tensions among the countries. “As to whether the [trilateral] format will enjoy a smooth development in the future, it’s much up to interaction among the three countries,” he said.