ＣＰＰＣＣ Ｖｉｃｅ Ｃｈａｉｒｍａｎ Ｚｈａｎｇ Ｈｕａｉｘｉ Ｍｅｅｔｓ ｗｉｔｈ Ｄｅｌｅｇａｔｉｏｎ ｏｆ Ｆａｍｏｕｓ Ｒｕｓｓｉａｎ Ｕｎｉｖｅｒｓｉｔｉｅｓ

At the invitation of the CPAFFC， an eleven-member delegation of famous Russian universities led by Alexander Victorov， chairman of the Committee of Science and Higher Education of St. Petersburg， paid a visit to Beijing， Zhengzhou and Shanghai from January 20 to 26， 2005. The members of the delegation included presidents of the St. Petersburg State University of Aerospace Instrumentation， Pavlov State Medical University of St. Petersburg， the St. Petersburg State Chemical Pharmaceutical Academy， the St. Petersburg State Electro-technical University and vice president of the St. Petersburg State Polytechnical University.

On January 21， Zhang Huaixi， vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC)， met with the delegation. He spoke highly of Sino-Russian relations. He said， the past 10 years saw smooth development of Sino-Russian strategic partnership of cooperation. The two countries have established strategic partnership， signed the Sino-Russian Good Neighbourly Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation， and set up the regular meeting mechanism for the heads of government of the two countries. The heads of state of the two countries have met three times.

Vice Chairman Zhang stated， during Russian President Putin’s visit in China last October， President Hu Jintao reiterated China’s “ five no changes” policy towards Russia， i.e. China will not change its policy of regarding Russia as the major strategic cooperative partner， develop everlasting friendship and mutually beneficial cooperation with Russia， support Russia’s stand of safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity， respect Russian’s choice of road of development according to its own conditions， never do anything that is detrimental to Russia’s interests. The two heads of state had in-depth exchange of views on bilateral cooperation and the international issues of common concern and reached extensive consensus which have played an important role in further developing Sino-Russian relations. To deepen the Sino-Russian strategic partnership of cooperation is in the fundamental interests of both countries and peoples and conducive to maintaining and promoting regional and world peace and stability. China is ready to make concerted efforts with Russia to conscientiously implement the agreements signed by the two sides， enrich the contents of Sino-Russian strategic partnership of cooperation and continuously push forward bilateral relations.

On the issues of Taiwan， human rights and economic and trade relations， Zhang said， Russia does not support “ Taiwan independence” in any possible forms， nor accepts the concept of“two Chinas” or “one China and one Taiwan”， and opposes Taiwan joining the United Nations and other international organizations that only sovereign states can join. Russia will not sell weapons to Taiwan， nor allow foreign forces to interfere with China’s settling the Taiwan issue. President Putin has made the commitment many times that Russia firmly stands by the People’s Republic of China on all the issues concerning China’s state sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Zhang continued， bilateral economic and trade cooperation has been expanded gradually. In 2004， bilateral trade turnover reached 21.23 billion US dollars， up 34.7% over 2003. The border trade volume has seen steady growth. Sino-Russian people-to-people contacts have deepened the traditional friendship between the two countries， playing an important role in consolidating the social basis of bilateral relations. Cooperation between localities of the two countries has been expanding. By the end of October 2004， 66 pairs of friendship cities and prefectures have been twinned and 9 pairs of Chinese provinces and Russian states have formed economic and trade ties.

Vice Chairman Zhang said， exchanges between the two countries in the educational field have been quite active. They include exchange of students who have won scholarships to study in each other’s country， invitation of language teachers to teach in each other’s country， exchange of educational delegations， implementation of key projects， supporting direct cooperation between institutes of higher learning. According to statistics， in 2003 there were 12，000 Chinese students studying in Russia， and 1，224 Russian students in China.

Alexander Victorov thanked Zhang Huaixi for receiving them. He said， in recent years with the joint efforts by the governments and peoples of the two countries， bilateral relations have been developing smoothly. The government of St. Petersburg attaches great importance to its friendly relations with China. It is planning to build a China Town in the city in the near future. The purpose of the delegation’s visit to China is to know more about China’s higher education and explore the possibility of carrying out more extensive and closer cooperation with Chinese colleges and universities. We have seen the tremendous changes in China and are willing to strengthen cooperation with China in the scientific， technological and educational fields to promote the development of bilateral relations and the traditional friendship in the new century.

The delegation had a discussion with the leading members of the Beijing Institute of Technology， the Capital University of Medical Sciences， the Central University of Finance and Economy， the Beijing University of Chemical Technology， the North China Electric Power University and the Academy of Chinese Traditional Opera at the Friendship Museum in the CPAFFC.