According to the website of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Russian President Vladimir Putin went to Harbin for a visit after the meeting with the Chinese leader. During this period, Putin, accompanied by senior Chinese officials, attended the opening ceremony of the 8th China-Russia Expo.
In their speeches, the Chinese official stressed that deepening the cooperative relationship between China and Russia in areas of mutual concern is the main theme, and with the vision of jointly drawing up the development of the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination in the new era, a new blueprint for the future development of the two countries has been drawn up. The Chinese side also cited a series of bilateral trade data between China and Russia in recent years, which proves that there are good prospects for Sino-Russian economic and trade cooperation. In the fields of energy, chemical industry, aerospace and connectivity, China-Russia cooperation is also steadily advancing.
In his speech, Putin recalled the results of his meeting with Chinese leaders in Beijing, affirmed the important role played by Harbin in strengthening Sino-Russian cultural exchanges, and determined the main direction of Sino-Russian cooperation in the future.
After the opening ceremony, Putin held a meeting with Chinese officials. Putin said that he had a fruitful meeting with Chinese leaders and made long-term plans for the development of bilateral relations, and the visit was a complete success. Putin also said that the two sides should closely coordinate and cooperate, strengthen practical cooperation in various fields, further promote local cooperation between the Far East and Northeast China, and promote the better development of bilateral relations. Harbin is the last stop of Putin's visit to China, and after the end of his trip to Harbin, Putin will return to Moscow by special plane. Before leaving China, he pledged to further promote local cooperation in the Far East-Northeast as a plan for the future direction of Russia's development.
Promoting China-Russia cooperation in the Far East has been one of the priorities of Putin's domestic policy in the past few years, and it has also been the focus of China's long-term concern. Since 2009, the Russian government has put forward a series of national strategies to accelerate the development of the Far East, taking the construction of advanced development zones, free ports, and infrastructure upgrading projects as the main development directions, and also regarding strengthening cooperation with China as an important driving force for accelerating the development of the Far East. Putin's specific plan for the Far East involves the development of mineral resources, the improvement of the investment and financing environment in the Far East, the increase of energy supply, and the focus on the construction of transportation facilities in the Far East.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the China-Russia Expo, Putin noted that the transport infrastructure that closely connects China and Russia is booming, and promised to continue to shorten the inspection time of goods and vehicles at the Russian-Chinese border. In 2022, two cross-border traffic bridges, a road bridge and a railway bridge were opened on the Amur River at once, and passenger and freight transportation has been frequently carried out along the route. In the border region between China and Russia, businesses and residents in particular need reliable and fast logistics channels. Russia will continue to rebuild border crossings and shorten the time it takes to inspect goods and vehicles at the border. Over the past decade or so, China has also issued a series of national-level strategic plans to revitalize the Northeast and accelerate the development and opening up of the Northeast.
In the Sino-Russian swastika statement, the Far East was mentioned twice. The statement pointed out that within the framework of the preferential system of the Russian Far East, investment cooperation will be strengthened in accordance with the principles of marketization and commercialization, and cooperative production of industrial and high-tech industries will be carried out. Deepen cooperation in agricultural investment, and continue to study the establishment of Sino-Russian agricultural cooperation pilot demonstration zones in the Russian Far East and other regions. The statement also mentioned that the two sides will engage in constructive dialogue with the DPRK on the navigation of Chinese ships through the lower reaches of the Tumen River.
It is clear that the statement sets the direction of future cooperation between China and Russia in the Far East-Northeast region, including the opening of a dialogue to open up the Tumen River to the sea. The Tumen River is geographically located, and opening up it will help promote new breakthroughs in the revitalization of Northeast China, and will also expand economic and trade cooperation between China and Russia, and Northeast China may also benefit from it. It can be seen from this that the fact that China and Russia have included the development of the Far East in the joint statement is good news for the two countries to make new breakthroughs in their future development, which means that the friendship between China and Russia will last forever.