20 years after the Russo-Chinese friendship treaty, relationship between two nations at ‘unprecedented heights,’ says Moscow

Relations between Moscow and Beijing have reached “unprecedented heights,” with Russo-Chinese cooperation being an example of how to work together despite “ideological constraints,” the Russian foreign minister claimed on Friday.

Writing on the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Sino-Russian Treaty of Friendship, Sergey Lavrov explained that the two nations were successfully cooperating military in a manner that is “only defensive in nature.”

The treaty, signed on July 16, 2001, by Presidents Jiang Zemin of China and Vladimir Putin of Russia, serves as a basis for peaceful relations between the two nations and provides for cooperation in the fields of trade, energy, and transport, among others.

In an article for Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Lavrov said the treaty had contributed to the two nations being a “model for interstate cooperation in the 21st century.”

“Relations between Russia and China have reached unprecedented heights,” Lavrov wrote. “[The document is] a model that meets the fundamental national interests of both countries and the aspirations of their people, and plays an important role in maintaining a sustainable multipolar world order and ensuring security and stability.”

The foreign minister went on to note that collaboration between Moscow and Beijing “is not held back by ideological constraints” and “is based on equal principles,” also noting that cooperation, including between the two nation’s militaries, “is not directed against third countries.”

In the time since the agreement was signed, Russia and China have become closer not only militarily, but also economically. According to Lavrov, the mutual trade turnover has increased almost 14 times, now exceeding $100 billion annually.

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