China-Russia pragmatic cooperation enjoys broad prospects
By Wu Yan, Yin Xinyu, Qu Pei and Zhang Xiaodong
from People’s Daily
The pragmatic cooperation between China and
Russia has demonstrated broader development prospects, as the year 2019 marks
the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between these two
countries.
The two countries are eyeing more extensive cooperation
in various sectors including economy, trade, people-to-people
exchanges and science and technology, carrying out dialogues on these sectors
and sealing a slew of agreements.
This momentum has reflected that China and
Russia are transforming the advantages of their high-level political relations
into more pragmatic cooperation outcomes.
The extensive China-Russia cooperation can be
vividly reflected by activities held between the two sides in last half month.
On May 16, the business forum China-Russia
Dialogue, with the theme of looking for alignment and growth points for bilateral
economic and trade cooperation, was held in Moscow. On May 23, the third
meeting of the Council of Cooperation between the upper and middle reaches of
the Yangtze River and the Volga Federal District kicked off in Cheboksary of
Russia.
A solar power station in the Samara region with
an investment of 100 million yuan (about $14.47 million) by a Chinese enterprise
has been put into operation. In Ulyanovsk, the hometown of Lenin, China and
Russia are building a medical complex in a special economic port zone. The city
also launches Russia’s first 250-odd megawatt industrial wind
farm with its Chinese partners.
The strategic task facing China and Russia is
to transform the advantages of the unprecedented high-level political relations
between the two countries into pragmatic cooperation outcomes in areas
including economy and people-to-people and cultural engagement. Specifically,
the two sides need to focus on realizing balanced quantitative and qualitative
economic cooperation and promoting diversified trade structure.
Over the past few years, the two countries have
sped up efforts to promote in-depth cooperation in strategic projects such as
energy, aerospace and interconnectivity, tapped into the potential of
cooperation among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and fostered new
cooperation areas and growth points.
These efforts are producing initial results. Last
year, bilateral trade amounted to an all-time record of $107.06 billion,
representing the largest growth among top ten trading partners of China.
On the evening of May 14, China’s Kunqu opera,
one of the oldest extant forms of Chinese opera, was performed at the Botanic
Garden Pharmacy Yard of Moscow State University in Russia. The famous Kunqu
opera “the Peony Pavilion” opened the prelude of the Chekhov
International Theatre Festival this year.
On May 26, the Chinese Cultural Festival kicked
off at the ZIL Cultural Center in Moscow, during which the Russians could taste
tea, sing Chinese songs, listen to Chinese folktales, and participate in kung
fu and calligraphy courses.
On May 28, the Russian State Duma, or the lower
house of parliament, held an exhibition of Russian and Chinese calligraphy,
attracting calligraphers from both countries.
In the past six years, China and Russia have enjoyed
higher level of cultural exchanges in broader areas and more diversified forms,
and conducted more popular activities with wider influence.
Both countries have embraced a great number of
large-scale state-level events, including the Year of Tourism, the China-Russia
Youth Friendly Exchange Year, the China-Russia Media Exchange Year, and the
year of China-Russia local cooperation and exchange.
Meanwhile, the two nations have enriched
cultural exchanges and bolstered the two peoples’ understanding and interest in
each other’s culture, by hosting film festivals in each other’s territory,
translating and publishing books, and encouraging interactions between museums,
theaters, and the circle of fine arts.
The China-Russia Culture
Forum and the China-Russia Cultural Market have
become the flagship projects between the two countries concerning cultural exchanges
and cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative.
Cultural exchanges between Russia and China can
promote their understanding of each other’s history and consolidate their
current ties, which will be handed down from generation to generation, said Sergey Gavrilov, Chairman of the Russia-China Parliamentary
Friendship Group of the
Russian State Duma at exhibition of Chinese
and Russian calligraphy works.
The friendship between the two peoples is also
rooted in the hearts of young people.
In mid-May this year, teachers from
the Ocean All-Russia Children’s Care Center, who had helped children affected by the Wenchuan
earthquake 11 years ago, were invited to visit China. Many people who had been
treated at the center returned to Chengdu, southwest China’s Sichuan province, to greet the kindhearted
teachers.
They have grown up, but their
true feelings and the story of love continue.
On May 27, Russia’s Unified State
Exam started. It is a national exam that every student must pass
after high school to enter a university or a professional college. This year, Mandarin
was included in the Unified State Exam, and reports confirmed that nearly 300
students from 43 federal subjects in Russia applied for the Mandarin test in
their exam.
Concordia
Kurilova, former
Russian rector of the Confucius Institute at Far Eastern Federal University in Russia, has long been devoted herself
to promoting educational cooperation and enhancing friendship between China and
Russia. She believes that the unbreakable friendship between the two nations is
bound to be handed down from generation to generation.
Actors interact with a child
on the stage at premiere of a fairy tale play adapted from “With the Chinese Fairy Tales – All the Year Round”
a book by Irina Zakharova,
a meritorious cultural activist and famous sinologist in Russia. The play was
premiered in Moscow recently. The book introduces Chinese festival customs,
folklore, mythical characters and games of Chinese children according to the lunar
calendar, and is popular among Russian kids since its publication. (People’s Daily/Wu Yan)
China-Russia pragmatic cooperation enjoys broad prospects
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