China and Russia held their eighth round of military
consultations in Beijing Tuesday, with broad consensus reached and
both parties vowing to strengthen cooperation in the future.
The half-day of talks was led by Xiong Guangkai, deputy chief of
General Staff of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, and Yury
Baluyevsky, first deputy chief of General Staff of the Russian
Armed Forces.
The parties exchanged views on the regional and international
security situation, major international issues, cooperation between
the two countries' armed forces and other issues of common
concern.
A broad consensus was reached, with both parties agreeing that
developing friendly ties between the two armed forces is an
important component of the strategic cooperative partnership
between the two countries.
They shared the view that maintaining and further developing
friendly cooperation between the two armed forces is not only
helpful to the defense and military construction of the two
countries, but also important to the bilateral strategic
partnership.
Xiong pointed out that this was the eighth round of military
consultations between
China and Russia, and that consensus had been reached on almost
all issues discussed during each round. He said this indicated that
both countries shared common concerns and similar positions on many
international and regional issues and had the same wish to further
boost bilateral ties.
Xiong also expressed his appreciation to the Russian government
for its adherence to the one-China principle and its objection to
any words and actions of the Taiwan authority aiming to change
Taiwan's position and separate Taiwan from China.
Baluyevsky said that Russia hopes to strengthen bilateral
consultations with China on major international and regional
issues.
(Xinhua News Agency March 17, 2004)