Chinese state councilor speaks on Sino-Russian ties, Syria

MOSCOW, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- Visiting Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo described Sino-Russian ties as flourishing and outlined China's stance on Syria in a newspaper interview Monday

Dai told Russian state newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta the two counties had witnessed a healthy development in bilateral ties in the 10 years since they forged their strategic cooperative partnership.

During Chinese President Hu Jintao's state visit to Russia last June, both sides affirmed they would commit to develop the Russia- China comprehensive strategic cooperation and partnership.

Leaders of the two countries also forged a blueprint for bilateral ties development in the next decade, which would guide the way for their long-term development, he said.

Dai also noted Russian President Vladimir Putin's successful visit to China two months ago.

Looking into the future of the bilateral relationship, Dai said the focus would be implementing the agreements that Hu and Putin reached during their visits, which had emphasized increasing mutual political support on core issues, such as safeguarding national sovereignty and security.

Dai said the two countries should strive toward raising bilateral trade volume to 100 billion U.S. dollars by 2015, promoting people-to-people exchanges and cooperation and enhancing coordination in global affairs.

Regarding the current civil war in Syria, Dai said China had denounced any kind of terrorism and violence targeted at innocent civilians.

China believed the key to fundamentally ending the Syria crisis was to stick to a political approach and urge all sides to exercise an immediate and full-scale ceasefire, he said.

Dai stressed China has no self-interest in dealing with the crisis, and had always maintained an objective and just stance.

"We respect the choice of the Syrian people and do not take sides. What we are against is interfering with internal affairs," he said.

China was willing to strengthen communication with all sides and support the UN's effort to end the crisis in a peaceful, just and appropriate way.

Dai also commented on the U.S. strategy of pivoting toward the Asia-Pacific region, saying China hoped the United States could keep up with the main theme of our time --maintain stability, boost cooperation and seek common development.

He also said the U.S. should respect the reasonable interests of Asia-Pacific countries and commit itself to promote regional stability and prosperity.

Dai said China had increased exchanges with Russia's Far Eastern region in recent years, and Chinese commodities had met the needs of the local markets and people.

Moreover, the Chinese people living there had contributed greatly to the social and economic development of the Far Eastern region, and their efforts had been recognized by the local governments and the public, he said.

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