China's Hu calls for multipolar world
May 28, 2003 Posted: 12:22 Moscow time (08:22 GMT)
MOSCOW - Visiting Chinese President Hu Jintao on Wednesday pushed for a "multipolar world" and a strategic partnership with Russia, while oil executives from the two nations signed a deal paving the way to a prospective pipeline to carry Siberian oil to China.
"The trend toward a multipolar world is irreversible and dominant," Hu said in a speech at the MGIMO, a Moscow university specializing in international relations.
A joint call for a "multipolar world," the term Russia and China used to describe their shared ambition to offset U.S. global domination, has cemented the post-Soviet friendship between the two former rivals.
On the sidelines of Hu's visit, China National Petroleum Corporation and Russia's Yukos oil company signed a preliminary agreement on shipping Siberian oil to China via a US$2.5 billion pipeline to be built from Angarsk in eastern Siberia to Daqing, China, 2,260 kilometers (1,400 miles) away.
Along with the Chinese route, the Russian Cabinet considered a rival, Japanese-backed proposal that would first lay the pipeline to Russia's Pacific port of Nakhodka. However, the Cabinet now appears to favour building the Chinese section first with the route to Nakhodka to follow later. A final verdict is expected in the next few weeks.
Under Wednesday's deal, Yukos will ship 700 million tons of crude oil (about 5.1 billion barrels) along the new pipeline to Daqing over 25 years beginning in 2005. The deal is estimated to worth over US$150 billion.
Hu chose Russia for his first trip abroad after replacing Jiang Zemin as president in March. He hailed a friendship treaty that Jiang signed with Putin in 2001, saying it has created "political guarantees for the long-term and steady development of Chinese-Russian relations."
The treaty became the first such document since 1950, when Josef Stalin and Mao Zedong created a Soviet-Chinese alliance that slid into rivalry and then hostility in the 1960s.
Hu said that warmer ties have helped to clear border disputes and increase bilateral trade from about US$6 billion in the mid-1990s to US$12 billion last year.
Referring to SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, Hu thanked the Russian government for assistance and voiced confidence that his government would soon control the disease.
Without naming the United States, Hu assailed unilateralism in world affairs and condemned the use of force in settling disputes. "Peace can't be achieved through using force," he said.
On Tuesday, Hu and Putin issued a joint declaration urging North Korea to relinquish its nuclear ambitions, but also voiced support for the North's demand for security guarantees and warned against using force to resolve the crisis.
Hu on Wednesday also met with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov and Russian parliament leaders and visited Moscow's Khrunichev company, Russia's premier rocket factory, to see its boosters and orbital vehicles. China plans to put its first man to space later this year, and the Russian space agency chief said recently that it was tapping on the Russian expertise.
On Thursday, Hu and Putin will take part in a Moscow summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a six-nation group that also includes four ex-Soviet Central Asian republics. Hu is also scheduled to attend weekend festivities marking the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg, Russia's former imperial capital.
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