March 19 (EIRNS)—Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Valdimir Putin exchanged messages yesterday, following Putin’s victory in the March 15-17 Russian Presidential election.
Xi sent Putin a congratulatory message: “Your re-election fully reflects the support of the Russian people for you,” Xi told Putin, according to state broadcaster CCTV. “In recent years, the Russian people have united as one to overcome challenges and move forward steadily on the road to national development and revitalisation. I believe that under your leadership, Russia will be able to achieve greater achievements in national development and construction. China attaches great importance to the development of China-Russia relations and is willing to maintain close communication with Russia to promote the sustained, healthy, stable and in-depth development of bilateral ties,” Xi said.
Putin responded to a question from Xinhua yesterday that he is “sure that in the coming years we will only strengthen and build up our relations and achieve common successes for the benefit of the Chinese and Russian peoples. The most important thing is the coincidence of state interests. This creates a very good tone for solving common problems in the field of international relations. The structure of China’s economy is changing towards innovation. We face exactly the same tasks in Russia.”
On China’s economy, Putin said: “China is developing by leaps and bounds, at a fast pace, very confidently, and what is very important is that the structure of China’s economy is changing towards innovation, towards making the economy more innovative. And we are trying to do the same within the country. We face exactly the same tasks in Russia.”
