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Putin to put in more effort befriending China |
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July 16, 2000
BEIJING (AP) - Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and Chinese officials crafted a statement Saturday for their presidents that condemns U.S. plans for a national missile defense system, a diplomat said. Ivanov, shortly after arriving in Beijing, opened two days of meetings to prepare for Tuesday's summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Jiang Zemin. It will be Putin's first visit to China since he became president, although the two leaders met earlier this month in Tajikistan. Putin and Jiang want to continue the close relations forged under Boris Yeltsin that have allowed the former communist rivals to work against what they see as U.S. global dominance. "We expect that the visit will determine the strategic development of our relations in the 21st century," Russia's Itar-Tass news agency quoted Ivanov as saying upon arrival in Beijing. Ivanov and Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan, accompanied by aides, began work on several documents Putin and Jiang are to sign, Russian Embassy spokesman Vladimir Zakharov said. Among the documents, he added, is a statement opposing the proposed U.S. national missile shield. Zakharov said the foreign ministers were discussing whether the statement against the missile system would be released separately or as part of an overall summit communique. Chinese Foreign Ministry officials did not return telephone calls seeking comment. China and Russia have repeatedly and loudly objected to the U.S. national missile defense, fearing that its deployment would spark a new arms race. A parade of Clinton administration officials have visited Moscow and Beijing to explain that the missile shield would not be directed against them, but smaller "rogue" states. The latest of these officials, U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen, left China on Saturday after a four-day stay, acknowledging that "differences remain." In addition to the statement on national missile defense, Putin and Jiang will discuss boosting lackluster trade and China's robust buying of Russian weapons. They will also preside over the signing of agreements on education, banking and a feasibility study for a pipeline to bring Siberian gas to China. On his way to Beijing, Ivanov stopped off at Big Ussuri island, one of the few territorial disputes left on the border Russia and China demarcated anew in the 1990s. |