Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi lauded China-Russia ties as a new model of major-country relations and expressed hope that high-level bilateral practical cooperation will contribute to the security and stability of global economy.

Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remarks in an exclusive interview with Russia Today news network in Moscow on Tuesday. The Chinese foreign minister is on a three-day official visit to Russia from Monday to Wednesday.

'Each other's largest neighbor'

In answering a question on China-Russia ties, Wang said China and Russia are each other's largest neighbor.

Noting that both are major countries in the world and permanent members of the UN Security Council, Wang said the countries bear special responsibilities for world peace and development.

Hailing the development of bilateral ties is conducive to promoting the world multi-polarity and greater democracy in international relations, Wang said, adding that the bilateral ties nowadays have three characteristics, respectively, to be friends forever and never be enemies, equal treatment and win-win cooperation, and a path of "non-alliance, non-confrontation and not targeting any third party."

According to Wang, over the past 70 years, China-Russia relations have built up solid mutual trust, while the bilateral cooperation has brought tangible benefits to both nations and the world at large. 

Lauding the "non-alliance, non-confrontation and not targeting any third party" new model of major-country relations in the modern era, the Chinese foreign minister said the model is also an important force for stability in a turbulent and changing world.

Further integration

Wang also shared his view on development between China-Russia practical cooperation from past to future in the interview.

Thanks to the joint efforts, the scale of bilateral cooperation over the past few decades has grown from small to large, the foundation of cooperation has grown from weak to strong, and the areas of cooperation have expanded from narrow to broad, achieving fruitful results, Wang said.

He added that the trade volume between both countries has reached $244.8 billion, with Russian agricultural products served on the dinner tables of millions of Chinese families and Chinese cars driving on the streets of Russia.

China-Russia practical cooperation has deepened and gotten better, injecting vigorous vitality into the development of bilateral relations, Wang said.

Noting the shared border of 4,300 kilometers, Wang said both countries have complementary advantages, huge potential and vast space for cooperation.

In the face of a turbulent and changing world, Wang said bilateral cooperation will continue to move forward along the established track and achieve the goals of creating growth areas for cooperation, deepening industrial integration and further promoting the synergy between China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative and the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union to ensure the security, stability and smooth flow of the global industrial and supply chains through high-level China-Russia cooperation.

As this year marks the 80th anniversary of the victories in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Soviet Union's Great Patriotic War, and the World Anti-Fascist War, Wang emphasized that China and Russia were the primary battlefields in Asia and Europe. He highlighted that the Chinese and Russian people served as the backbone forces in the fight against fascism and militarism.

Wang stressed that in the face of profound changes unseen in a century, both China and Russia must firmly side with international justice, work with peace-loving people of all countries in the world to safeguard the history written with blood and life, and oppose any attempt or action to deny, distort or falsify the history of WWII.

(Cover: File photo of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. /China's Foreign Ministry)