China and Russia

July 15-16 and 23-26, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov visited China. Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan held talks with him and the two sides exchanged views on bilateral relations and international issues. Apart from Beijing, the Russian foreign minister also visited Shanghai.

　　July 17-19, Russian President Vladimir Putin paid a state visit to China. During the visit, President Jiang Zemin held two rounds of talks with the Russian president, one with limited aides and the other with full entourage, and NPC Standing Committee Chairman Li Peng, Premier Zhu Rongji and the chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) Li Ruihuan met with the Russian president separately. The two heads of state signed together the Beijing Declaration of the People’s Republic of China and the Russian Federation, and the Joint Statement of the President of the People’s Republic of China and the President of the Russian Federation on the Issue of Anti Ballistic Missiles. Seven inter-government and inter-department agreements were also signed.

　　On the evening of July 26, President Jiang Zemin received the call of the Russian president Vladimir Putin on hot line and the two leaders exchanged views on bilateral relations and international issues of common concern.

　　August 9, Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan sent a message to Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov to express his sympathies and solicitudes for the wounded and bereaved families of the strong explosion at Pushkin subway station in central Moscow.

　　August 21, President Jiang Zemin, on behalf of the Chinese government and people and in his own name, sent a message to President Vladimir Putin to express his condolences to the president and, through him, to the 118 officers and sailors who were killed in the distress of the Kursk nuclear submarine and his sympathies and solicitudes for the bereaved families.

　　August 24, Vice Foreign Minister Ji Peiding and others went to the Russian embassy in China to attend the ceremony to offer condolences to the officers and sailors who were killed in the distress of the Kursk nuclear submarine.

　　August 31, the Chinese NPC Standing Committee chairman Li Peng met with the Russian State Duma chairman Gennady Seleznyov in New York, where he was attending the UN Millennium Parliament Leaders Conference, and the two leaders exchanged views on further enhancing parliamentary exchanges between the two countries.

　　September 6, President Jiang Zemin met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in New York, where he was attending the UN Millennium Summit Conference, and the two leaders discussed matters mainly concerning Sino-Russian relations, international situation and etc.

　　September 11-19, NPC Standing Committee Chairman Li Peng, accompanied by his wife Zhu Lin, paid an official visit to Russia. During the visit, Chairman Li Peng met separately with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minster Mikhail Kasyanov and held talks with Yegor Stroyev and Gennady Seleznyov, the speakers of the upper and lower houses of Parliament. The two sides signed two inter-parliament agreements. Chairman Li also met with the former Russian president Boris Yeltsin, the former prime ministers Chernomyrdin and Yevgeny Primakov and other well-known statesmen and parliamentarians from different parties before going to visit Novosibirsk and Vladivostok.

　　September 13, Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan met with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov in New York, where he was attending the 55th Session of the UN General Assembly.

　　September 14, on behalf of the Russian people and in his own name, Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a message to President Jiang Zemin to express sympathies and solicitudes for the bereaved and wounded families of the explosion accident in Xinjiang.