Russia will not sell aircraft carriers to China because it has
stopped producing them, Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander
Alexeyev told Chinese netizens in an online dialogue this week.
"Now China has its own advanced weapons manufacturing technology
there's no need to buy outdated military equipment," said
Alexeyev.
But he added that Russia will continue selling up-to-date arms
to China.
"It is unfortunate that various threats in the world against us
(Russia and China) have not decreased," said the deputy foreign
minister, indicating that maintaining a high-level defense
capability is in line with the common interests of the two
countries.
The arms deals between Russia and China "will not become a
threat to any third country, and will not endanger the stability
and security of the Asia-Pacific region and the world as a whole,"
he added.
In regard to recent actions taken by the Russian government on
foreigners working and running retail businesses in Russia,
Alexeyev said they were not targeted at Chinese citizens, but aimed
at combating illegal immigration.
The Kremlin began a ban on immigrant vendors in markets on April
1, forcing foreign traders to pack up their stalls and dozens of
kiosks are now empty. But it does not apply to Moscow.
Immigrant vendors are only allowed to work as porters, cleaners
and wholesalers. They are not permitted to directly sell goods to
local customers. The ban has raised concerns that it was aimed at
Chinese traders.
"The anti-China tendency in Russia contradicts the policy of our
government," said Alexeyev.
Another Russian guest engaged in the online dialogue, Nikolay
Dudov, governor of Magadan Oblast, said the so-called expansion of
Chinese citizens in Russia is not really taking place. "The issue
has been exaggerated by sensationalist media," he said.
The online dialogue, called "Dialogue with Russia," is part of a
series of online interactive activities between Chinese netizens
and other countries and regions sponsored by China
Daily.
This summer, 10 questions were picked from a pool of posts
posted by about 150,000 netizens on the China Daily website
and were transferred to several Russian politicians and
experts.
"We intend to build up a high-level network platform for Chinese
netizens to learn about Russia through this dialogue, as well as
providing a new channel for mutual understanding between the two
countries," said Zhou Xiaopeng, director of the website's Global
Online Channel.
(China Daily October 12, 2007)
