Jiang hails China-Russia relations

Chinese President Jiang Zemin, right, gestures during a meeting with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov, left, in Beijing

HONG KONG, China -- Chinese President Jiang Zemin has celebrated an improvement in relations with Russia during a meeting in Beijing with visiting Premier Mikhail Kasyanov.

The official Xinhua news agency quoted Jiang as saying on Friday that Sino-Russian ties had entered a "very sound phase."

"Leaders of both countries have built mutual trust and a cooperative partnership, exchanged high-level visits frequently and coordinated closely in major international affairs," Jiang told Kasyanov.

"Sino-Russian relations have made significant progress."

On Thursday, Kasyanov and his counterpart Zhu Rongji issued a joint statement appealing for the establishment of a "new security concept."

The two prime ministers, who met in Shanghai, called for the demilitarization of space as well as a new standard in countering terrorism.

MORE STORIES N. Korea's Kim talks economics with Putin     CNN.com Asia More news from our Asia edition

In what has been interpreted as a criticism of American views on fighting terrorism, the joint statement said terrorism should not be associated with a specific religion and race -- and that the United Nations should play a significant role in anti-terrorist campaigns.

Beijing has consistently criticized Washington for its "unilateralist" approach in fighting Islam fundamentalism in Afghanistan and the Middle East.

Diplomatic analysts in Beijing said Thursday's Shanghai statement marked an improvement of ties in the wake of what the Chinese leadership saw as Moscow's pro-American tilt earlier this year.

Military cooperation

In May, Presidents George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin signed a landmark agreement on the mutual reduction of missiles, which signaled among other things Russia's acquiescence in American development of a national missile defense system.

Beijing was also worried about the formation of a NATO-Russian council on security matters, which suggested Moscow's acceptance of the eastward expansion of the Washington-dominated body.

The analysts said the catalyst for improvement in Sino-Russian relations might be Chinese purchase of advanced Russian military hardware.

The Russian media has reported that apart from diplomatic and economic issues Kasyanov discussed military cooperation, particularly Chinese procurement of Russian weapons.

Moscow papers reported earlier this week that Beijing had expressed intentions to buy another batch of the ultra-modern Su-30MKK jet fighters from Russia.

Beijing has in the past few years prominently featured Russian-made weapons during annual summer war games held along its eastern coast.