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China says Putin to visit Beijing this year

BEIJING: China said on Friday Russia's acting president Vladimir Putin would visit Beijing this year for "an important summit" to cement a new strategic partnership forged last year between the two giant neighbours.

Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan also told a news conference it was up to Russia to decide whether joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) was in its national interests.

Russia's former President Boris Yeltsin visited China in December for talks after which the two countries heralded a new-found friendship based largely on shared anti-Western political stances.

But the relationship was thrown into uncertainty when Yeltsin suddenly resigned on December 31, handing the reigns of power over to Putin.

Tang visited Moscow in late February for meetings with Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov at which the two sides reaffirmed the new relationship and rejected Western criticism of their domestic affairs.

"In that meeting, acting president Putin confirmed that he is going to visit China this year and when he is in Beijing another summit, an important summit, between Chinese and Russian leaders will take place," Tang said.

Putin is widely tipped to win Russia's presidential election on March 26.

RUSSIA, CHINA SEEK FRIENDSHIP

Russia and China have been nurturing warmer relations in recent years, seeking to balance what they see as the domination of world affairs by the United States.

"We both felt that a multi-polar world is in the best interest of world peace, stability and development," Tang said.

China has backed Russia's military campaign in Chechnya despite widespread international criticism, and Russia does not criticise China over its human rights record as many Western nations do.

Tang avoided being drawn into whether Russia should join NATO after Putin told the British Broadcasting Corporation last weekend he did not see why Russia could not join the Western alliance.

Putin has since poured cold water on the idea, saying Moscow could not support NATO in any action similar to its campaign in Yugoslavia.

"I think this matter is a matter between Russia and NATO," said Tang.

"But there is one thing I firmly believe in -- Russia will base its final decision and judgment on its national interests."

NO ANTI-U.S. ALLIANCE

Moscow and Beijing say their partnership is not an anti-U.S. alliance. But they are finding common ground in opposition to Washington on a growing number of security issues, from conflict in Kosovo and Chechnya to nuclear non-proliferation.

"The existing strategic partnership between China and Russia is a very normal state-to state relationship," Tang said. "It is not an alliance, neither is it a confrontational relationship, and still less is it directed at any third country or party."

Moscow and Beijing both object strongly to U.S. plans to amend a 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) treaty to allow it to build a national anti-missile defence system.

Russia and China have also both expressed strong regret after the U.S. Senate voted not to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. -Reuters