China sticks to expanding common interests and resolving disputes with big powers on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence.

Sino-U.S. Relations

Sino-U.S. relations improved greatly in 2002. The two countries maintained high-level contact and strategic dialogue and made important progress in building a constructive relationship.

The heads of state of the two countries exchanged visits in 2002. U.S. President George W. Bush visited China in February and then Chinese President Jiang Zemin visited the United States in October, during which both sides reached a series of consensus on further advancing political, economic, trade, security and other cooperation between the two countries.

The two leaders highly appraised the development of Sino-U.S. ties. Jiang said that the development of bilateral relations was sound, which is welcomed not only by the people of the two countries but the rest of the world. Describing his talks with Jiang as "very frank and positive," Bush said bilateral ties were mature, based on mutual respect and of great global significance.

Besides the decision to maintain high-level strategic dialogue and personnel exchanges, Jiang and Bush also agreed to carry out exchanges and cooperation in trade, energy, science and technology, environmental protection, prevention and treatment of AIDS, execution of laws and other fields and to hold strategic dialogues on regional economic and financial issues. To materialize the above agreements, the two countries convened meetings of the three joint commissions on economy, trade, and science and technology within the year.

After an in-depth discussion about the current international situation, especially the changes after the September 11 [2001] terrorist attacks, the two presidents agreed to strengthen consultation and cooperation in combating terrorism on the basis of mutual benefit, so as to perfect the mechanism for medium- and long-term anti-terrorist exchanges and cooperation. The U.S. side decided to list the "East Turkistan Islamic Movement" as an international terrorist organization and cut off its financial sources within the United States. During his visit to China, Bush expressed his gratitude again for China's support and cooperation in the international counter-terrorist campaign.

The two sides agreed to resume military exchanges and to carry out defense consultations at vice ministerial level and other exchange programs. At the same time, they also decided to establish a consultative mechanism on strategic security, multilateral arms control and non-proliferation at the vice foreign ministerial level.

In their frank talks, Jiang Zemin and Bush did not evade existing differences. However, they both expressed their wish to deepen understanding, narrow differences, expand consensus and promote cooperation through dialogue in a spirit of mutual respect, equal treatment and seeking common grounds while reserving differences.

The key for stable development of Sino-U.S. relations is to properly handle the Taiwan issue. Jiang clarified China's basic guideline of "peaceful reunification" and "one country, two systems" in handling the Taiwan issue, stressing that the separatist activities of "Taiwan independence" forces were the biggest threat to the stability across the Taiwan Straits and the development of Sino-U.S. relations. He hoped the U.S. side would abide by its one-China policy and the three Sino-U.S. joint communiques and play a constructive role in China's peaceful reunification. Bush said that the United States understood the sensitivity of the Taiwan issue and reiterated that the United States would persist in its one-China policy and oppose "Taiwan independence." The U.S. president appreciated China's stance on peacefully resolving the Taiwan issue and stressed that these policies of the United States remain unchanged.

Three decades ago, leaders of China and the United States put an end to the history of mutual isolation with extraordinary courage and insight. Although bilateral ties have witnessed ups and downs in the past 30 years, the general trend of Sino-U.S. relations is progressive. This proved that leaders of both sides who are well aware of their national benefits and personages from all circles who have recognized the value of Sino-U.S. relations have fully realized that there are common interests in many fields between China, the largest developing country in the world, and the United States, the largest developed one. This lays a solid foundation for further development of bilateral relations despite all barriers.

Sino-Russian Relations

The year 2002 saw a strengthened strategic partnership of cooperation between China and Russia. The exchanges of visit between high-level officials of the two countries occurred with great frequency, mutually beneficial cooperation was enhanced and the collaboration between the two countries in dealing with international affairs became more effective. The China-Russia Good-Neighborly Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation was actively carried out in both countries.

On August 21-23, then Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji and Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov held the seventh regular Sino-Russian prime ministerial meeting, during which, both sides signed the Joint Communique of the Seventh Regular Meeting of the Heads of Government Between China and Russia, the Minutes of the Sixth Meeting of the Committee on Regular Meetings of Heads of Government Between China and Russia and two commercial documents¨Ca banking agreement for border trade settlement and an agreement for a $200 million export credit for Russia. The two countries agreed that the bilateral cooperation for a long period in the future would be focused on optimizing the trade structure, increasing proportion of hi-tech and electromechanical products and other goods of high added value in bilateral trade, intensifying cooperation on energy and coordinating the implementation of energy projects of potential benefits. The two countries pledged to speed up the examination and approval of the project to build a gas pipeline from Russia's Angarsk to China's Daqing, so as to enter the primary design stage as soon as possible. The meeting also announced the two countries would strengthen cooperation on the project for transmitting gas from west China to eastern part of the country and on the peaceful use of nuclear energy, expand banking cooperation in order to provide reliable financial services for bilateral economic and trade exchanges, initiate cooperation in information and communication fields and deepen space cooperation.

Russian President Vladimir Putin paid a state visit to China on December 1-3, 2002, at the invitation of then Chinese President Jiang Zemin. During the visit, both sides reviewed bilateral relations in the past 10 years, devised a plan to further bilateral ties and deepen the strategic partnership of cooperation in the near future, and clarified the direction and priorities of future cooperation. The leaders also exchanged views on important international issues and reached a wide consensus, injecting new vitality to the sustained and steady development of bilateral ties, typified by the signing of the Sino-Russian Joint Declaration.

A mechanism of regular top-level meeting plays an important role in prompting Sino-Russian relations. Over the past decade, the heads of state of the two countries have met for 18 times, of which 11 meetings were held between Jiang Zemin and Putin.

The mature and stable political ties have created a favorable environment for the development of bilateral trade and economic relations. According to Chinese customs statistics, the bilateral trade volume amounted to nearly $10.7 billion in 2001, and reached $9.8 billion in the first 10 months of 2002, an increase of 18.1 percent year on year. Currently, China is the sixth largest trading partner of Russia, and Russia is the eighth largest of China.

China and Russia are countries that raised the alarm on terrorism to the world at the earliest time. As members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the two countries have continuously endeavored to fight terrorism. They have set up a special counter-terrorist mechanism at Bishkek and have made fruitful achievements in jointly cracking down on "East Turkistan" terrorist forces and the separatists in Chechnya.

Sino-EU Relations

The political, economic and cultural exchanges and cooperation between China and the European Union (EU) witnessed an overall development in 2002. China and the EU have achieved wider consensus and strengthened coordination on important international and regional issues, a prominent feature of the current Sino-European relations.

On September 24, 2002, then Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji, Danish Prime Minister and President of the European Council Anders Fogh Rasmussen and the President of the European Commission Romano Prodi held the fifth China-EU Summit in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Leaders of both sides had an in-depth discussion about international and regional issues of mutual concern. The EU side reiterated that it would continue the one-China policy and hoped that the Taiwan issue could be resolved through constructive dialogue and peaceful means. It said the EU has noticed the changes in the situation across the Taiwan Straits introduced by the Chinese side. The Chinese side highly appreciated EU's one-China stance and reiterated that China would handle the Taiwan issue in light of the basic principles of "peaceful reunification" and "one country, two systems."

Both sides reiterated that they would be more actively devoted to multilateral non-proliferation, arms control and disarmament efforts and emphasized the importance of strengthening bilateral dialogues on such issues. They agreed that the anti-terrorist campaign was of mutual concern and needed coordination and cooperation at a higher level. The Chinese and EU leaders stressed that the UN should continue to play a leading role in suppressing terrorism, and the international anti-terrorist treaties and other resolutions of the UN Security Council on anti-terrorism should be fully implemented. The two sides reached a consensus that, after the September 11 terrorist attacks, it was even more important for the international community to cope with challenges emerging from development and resolve disputes peacefully through enhanced cooperation and coordination in a spirit of equality and mutual trust and benefit. The EU leaders also expressed interest in the New Concept of Security advocated by China.

Chinese and European leaders also vowed to reinforce cooperation to deal with transnational problems. On the basis of the consensuses reached at the China-EU Summit in July 2002, both sides pointed out that it is of great importance to jointly crack down on illegal immigration and people smuggling. The European side hoped to start negotiations on a repatriation agreement at an early date and the Chinese side proposed that relevant departments on both sides should have closer contact.

In terms of environmental protection, both sides reiterated their commitments to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol, believing that the two documents constitute the framework of the international cooperation in this field and stressing that it was important to make the Kyoto Protocol into operation as soon as possible.

Both sides were satisfied with China's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and believed that both China and other WTO members would benefit from it. China reiterated that it would completely fulfill its commitments to the WTO while enjoying rights under the multilateral trade structure. The EU expressed its willingness to continue supporting China through cooperative projects and dialogue in key fields.

Sino-Japanese Relations

Japan is one of the important neighbors of China, and Sino-Japanese relations occupy an important position in China's diplomacy, especially with neighboring countries. As 2002 marked the 30th anniversary of the normalization of Sino-Japanese diplomatic relations, both countries held various activities to celebrate it. During the celebrations, 5,000 Chinese people visited Japan and 13,000 Japanese people came to China, ushering in a new upsurge of nongovernmental exchanges. Besides this, bilateral cooperation in economy, trade and other fields has also made fresh progress. In respect of historical problems, China persists in the principle of "looking upon the history as a mirror and marching forward with an eye to the future," maintaining the political foundation of the Sino-Japanese relations.