The foreign ministers of China and Russia met in Moscow Tuesday and discussed bilateral ties, international issues, and a summit between the heads of state of the two countries. Both Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan and his Russian counterpart, Igor Ivanov, expressed satisfaction with the development of the Sino-Russian strategic partnership in recent years.

Tang, who arrived in Moscow Monday on a three-day official visit, said the partnership has kept a sound momentum as the world moves into the new millennium. As two powers wielding major influence, the strengthened cooperation between China and Russia not only conforms to the fundamental interests of the two countries, it is also of great significance to the progress of a multi-polar world and the establishment of a just and reasonable new world order, Tang noted. China would work together with Russia to promote bilateral cooperation in various fields to a new high, Tang said. Ivanov, for his part, said Tang's visit would further promote Russian-Chinese ties.

He said bilateral relations have reached a level of mutual trust and that both sides should make more efforts to implement the agreements reached by the top leaders of the two countries. Ivanov said Russian Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov would visit China shortly and discuss with his hosts bilateral cooperation in the fields of politics, economy and trade. He expressed the hope that Klebanov's trip will achieve positive results.

Tang said China attaches great importance to Klebanov's visit and that he believes the visit would enhance the overall development of bilateral cooperation in various fields. As long as the two sides base their cooperation on the spirit of mutual trust and mutual benefit, such cooperation in specific areas will have very bright vistas, he said. Tang and Ivanov agreed that high-level exchanges have an irreplaceable role in pushing forward the bilateral strategic partnership. They exchanged views on the exchange of summit meetings this year.

During the talks, Tang reiterated China's support for the Russian government's stance on the Chechen issue and the actions taken in fighting separatism and religious extremism in Chechnya. Ivanov expressed his appreciation for China's just stance on the Chechen issue. He repeated that Russia will unswervingly stick to the one-China policy.

He said Russia supports the early reunification of China and will cooperate with China on the Taiwan issue. Both sides voiced their resolute rejection of such arguments as "limited sovereignty" and "humanitarian intervention," and believed that each country should be able to choose its social system and path of development in line with its own situation. The two ministers also discussed other regional and international issues and reached broad consensus. They pledged to strengthen cooperation in international affairs. At the end of their meeting, Tang and Ivanov signed an agreement on the exchange of visits by citizens of the two countries.

Chinese Ambassador Wu Tao and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Ivan Sergeyev also signed an accord on the exemption of visas for citizens visiting as members of tourist groups.