China and Russia

December 31, 1999, President Jiang Zemin addressed a letter to Yeltsin, expressing regret over his resignation from the position as Russian president and speaking highly of his historical contribution to the development of China-Russia relations.

　　2. Development of Bilateral Relations and Important High-level Exchanges, Major Events and Bilateral Documents

　　2000

　　January 1, President Jiang Zemin sent an oral message to Vladimir Putin to congratulate him on his appointment as acting president of Russia, and express the hope that he could work with him in a joint effort to develop and deepen the strategic partnership of cooperation between the two countries.

　　January 13, Boris Yeltsin personally bade farewell to President Jiang Zemin on the hot line. They both expressed their satisfaction over the mood of friendliness and trust that prevailed in their contacts, and felt relieved and full of confidence about the development of bilateral relations between the two countries in the 21st century.

　　January 16-18, the vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, state councilor and defense minister Chi Haotian visited Russia. He met with Acting President Vladimir Putin, Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov and had talks with Russian Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev.

　　January 19, the chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC) Li Peng sent a message to Gennady Seleznyov to congratulate him on his re-election as chairman of the Russian State Duma and express the desire to continue to work together with him to further strengthen the cooperation between the legislatures of the two countries.

　　January 25, Assistant Foreign Minister Liu Guchang met on appointment with the Russian ambassador to China Igor Alexeyevich Rogachev, who delivered the letter of Spring Festival greetings by Acting President Vladimir Putin to President Jiang Zemin.

　　February 24, Premier Zhu Rongji wrote to Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to acknowledge his letter of November 22, 1999.

　　February 25, President Jiang Zemin sent a letter to Acting President Vladimir Putin in acknowledgement of his Spring Festival greetings.

　　February 28 - March 1, Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan paid an official visit to Russia. During his visit, he met with Russian Acting President Vladimir Putin and had extensive and in-depth exchange of views with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov on bilateral relations and international issues of common interest. The two sides issued a joint press communiqué on the Chinese Foreign Minister’s visit to Russia and signed two government agreements on mutual visits by the Chinese and Russian citizens and mutual exemption of group tourist visas.

　　March 14-21, the human rights representative of the Russian Federation Oleg Mironov and his party visited China. Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan met with him. The two sides exchanged views on their respective human rights situations and experiences.

　　March 27, President Jiang Zemin, on behalf of the Chinese government and people and in his own name, sent a message of congratulation to Vladimir Putin expressing heartfelt felicitations on his election as president of the Russian Federation.

　　On the same day President Jiang Zemin had talks with the Russian president-elect on the hot line to express again his congratulations on the latter’s election and appreciated the efforts made by him as acting president to promote continued and stable development of Sino-Russian strategic partnership of cooperation.

　　March 29-30, General Chi Haotian, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, state councilor and defense minister, attended the meeting of the five defense ministers of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan in Astana, capital of Kazakhstan, and had a separate meeting with the Russian defense minister Marshal Igor Sergeyev.

　　April 12, while attending the ASEAN Commerce Summit, the foreign trade and economic cooperation minister Shi Guangsheng held talks with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov and Trade Minister Fradkov separately.