Russian President Vladimir Putin has stressed the importance of the fact that Russia and China have no territorial claims against each other and that this recognition rests upon a firm legal basis. President Putin observed it during a video conversation with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday. According to reports, Putin noted that the Russian Chinese Treaty of Good-Neighborliness, Friendship, and Cooperation was signed 20 years ago and largely determined the current trajectory of the Sino-Russia bilateral relations. Putin said that the absence of mutual territorial claims and the two countries’ determination to turn the common border into a belt of eternal peace and friendship is a big deal. According to him, both countries had worked for it over years, and they have achieved the desired result, suitable for China and for Russia. He further said that this document has such fundamental agreements as mutual support in the protection of state unity and territorial integrity, including the pledge not to be the first to use nuclear weapons and not to target strategic missiles against each other. According to him, this agreement has great significance in the modern world and respect for the sovereign right to choose a social system and way of development, and non-interference in the internal affairs of neighbouring countries.
In fact, bilateral friendly relations, and the environment of peaceful coexistence between the two countries has played an important role in overall development and working coordination of Russia and China at international forums. This constructive working relationship had helped both nations to maneuver accordingly at the international platform. Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is the most important outcome of Russian-Chinese bilateral cooperation and the two nations also successfully forged a mutual understanding of cooperation in Chinese Belt and Road initiative (BRI) and pro-Russian Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) in the past. The treaty of good neighbourliness and friendship is the cornerstone of Russia China bilateral relations. Both Countries have a lot in common including a desire for a multipolar world, centrality of UN, being target of US economic sanctions and US’s trade war competitors. The similarity of their problems and presence of a common enemy has further brought the two nations closer to each other and broadened the chances of their cooperation and friendship.
