Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov is paying an official visit to China on November 3 and 4, at the invitation of Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji. During the visit, Zhu and Kasyanov held the fifth regular meeting.

Chinese President Jiang Zemin, Chairman Li Peng of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) and Premier Zhu Rongji had meetings or held talks with Kasyanov, exchanging views on deepening mutually beneficial cooperation in politics, economy, science, technology and international affairs and reaching wide- ranging consensus.

Both sides expressed satisfaction with the continued and stable development of the Sino-Russian strategic and cooperative partnership of equality and mutual trust, and reaffirmed that bilateral cooperation in various fields accords to the fundamental interests of the two countries and peoples, and plays an important role in maintaining regional peace, world peace and stability.

The two prime ministers stressed that the Beijing Declaration signed by Chinese President Jiang Zemin and Russian President Vladimir Putin on July 18, 2000 and the presidential joint statement on the anti-missile issue are extremely important to the future development of bilateral relations.

The two governments will take every necessary measure to implement the agreements reached by the heads of state of the two countries in July.

The Russian prime minister reiterated Russia's consistent stance on the Taiwan issue, namely, the government of the People's Republic of China (PRC) is the sole legal government of China, and Taiwan is an inseparable part of Chinese territories.

He also said that the Russian federation does not support Taiwan's independence in any form, and supports the PRC's stance of not accepting two Chinas or one China, one Taiwan, and that it opposes Taiwan's participation in the United Nations and other international organizations where statehood is required, adding that it does not sell weaponry to Taiwan.

Both sides believed that the Taiwan issue, an internal affair of China, brooks no interference from external forces in the settlement of the issue, stressing that such an attempt will only intensify the situation in the Asia-Pacific region.

China does not object to Russia's unofficial links with Taiwan in economic, trade, scientific, technologic, cultural and sports areas.

Both sides pointed out that China and Russia, as permanent members of the UN Security Council, bear major responsibilities in world peace and development, and also expressed satisfaction with the fruitful cooperation between the two sides in the international arena.

The two leaders stressed that they will continue to reinforce strategic cooperation in maintaining peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region and the world at large, so as to push forward the multi-polarity process and the establishment of a new international political and economic order.

During the meeting, both sides discussed practical measures to implement the agreements reached by presidents of the two countries in July, agreeing that the system of regular meetings has played and will continue to play an important role in promoting economic and trade cooperation.

The two prime ministers spoke highly of the work done by the sub-committees of the regular meeting since the fourth regular meeting in February of 1999.

They also agreed to establish sub-committees on space and banking cooperation. The two sub-committees had already held their first meetings.

The two sides agreed to set up a vice-prime minister-level commission on education, culture, health and sports, announcing that Chinese Vice-Premier Li Lanqing will pay an official visit to Russia in December to have detailed discussions on the establishment and operation of such a commission.

The two sides shared the views contained in the minutes for the Fourth Meeting of the Joint Commission for the Regular Meetings of Heads of Government of Russia and China.

The two prime ministers pointed out that the two countries have made some progress in implementing the agreements of the fourth regular meeting between the prime ministers of the two countries in forestry cooperation, setting up Chinese super markets in Moscow, promoting direct economic and trade exchanges between localities of the two countries, and setting up and implementing projects on nuclear energy, oil and natural gas.

They also stressed that the signing and earnest implementation of an agreement on mutual exemption of visas for group tourists and people-to-people exchanges have created favorable conditions for regulating people-to-people exchanges.

China and Russia signed the following documents during the fifth regular meeting of their heads of government:

-- Minutes for the fourth meeting of the Joint Commission for the Regular Meetings of Heads of Government of Russia and China, held here Wednesday between Chinese State Councilor Wu Yi and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov;

-- An agreement between the government of the People's Republic of China and the government of the Russian Federation on the opening of a confidential hot-line between heads of the two governments;

-- A protocol further to the agreement signed on June 27, 1997 regarding the establishment and organization of a regular meeting system for the Chinese and the Russian governments;

-- An agreement between the two governments on the short-term recruitment of Chinese citizens working in Russia, and vice versa;

-- An agreement between the Chinese government and the Russian government on the joint exploitation of forests;

-- A Sino-Russian trade agreement effective from 2001 to 2005;

-- An agreement between the Chinese Ministry of Land and Resources and the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources on Sino- Russian scientific and technological cooperation in the exploitation of land and mineral resources;

-- A memorandum of understanding signed between the science and technology ministries of the two countries on exploring new areas of cooperation; - A memorandum of understanding between the State Administration of Taxation of China and the Ministry of Tax of Russia;

-- An agreement of cooperation between the State Development Bank of China and Bank for Foreign Economic Affairs of Russia;

-- An agreement of cooperation between the State Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision of China and the Russian Committee for Standardization and Metrology in standardization, measurement, qualification, accreditation and quality management sectors;

-- An agreement signed between Nuclear Power Co. Ltd. of China' s Jiangsu Province and the Ministry of Finance of Russia, as a follow-up to the agreement signed between the two governments on December 18, 1992 on Sino-Russian cooperation in the construction of a nuclear power station in China and the grant of government loans by Russia;

-- An agreement on the feasibility study on the construction of gas fields in Russia and the multi-lateral cooperation between China, Russia and the Republic of Korea in the gas field projects.

The two sides stressed their willingness to promote all-round cooperation in important sectors including trade, investment, science, technology, energy, power, mechanical manufacturing, aerospace, civil aviation manufacturing, communications and military technology, on the basis of equality, mutual benefit, complementarity and in conformity with the rules of the market economy, in a bid to fully exploit economic potential and boost the overall bilateral economic and technological cooperation.

Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji and Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov agreed to continue expanding bilateral cooperation in the following sectors:

1. To further improve collaboration in finance, banking, insurance, advertising, arbitration and transportation;

2. Relevant departments of the Chinese and Russian governments fully support the launching and implementation of cooperation projects in nuclear power, oil, gas, space and other sectors;

3. China and Russia will continue to promote regional exchanges in trade, economic, scientific and technological sectors;

4. China and Russia will accelerate the establishment of direct and long-term cooperative relations between their reputed enterprises.

Enterprises and organizations of China and Russia will hold negotiations and explore ways that are acceptable to both sides for bilateral cooperation in energy, power, the environment and other infrastructure construction projects in the development of China's western region.

Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji and Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov attach great importance to the upcoming meeting of heads of governments of five nations in Shanghai, which include China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, and will make joint efforts in preparing for the meeting in a bid to promote multi- lateral trade and economic cooperation with all interested countries.

Both sides are satisfied with the results of the fifth regular meeting between Chinese and Russian heads of governments.

The two heads of governments have agreed that the sixth regular meeting will be held in Moscow in 2001. The specific dates for the meeting are to be determined through diplomatic channels.

(Xinhua 11/3/2000)