2019 marks the 70th anniversary of the establishment of China-Russia diplomatic ties. The following is a chronology of major moments between the two countries.

Diplomacy

Oct. 2, 1949 China established diplomatic relations with the former Soviet Union, whose international role was succeeded by Russia in 1991 after the former's disintegration.

July 16, 2001 China and Russia signed a good-neighbor treaty of friendship and cooperation to ensure long-term development of bilateral relations.

June 2, 2005 China and Russia reached final agreement over their eastern border, putting an end to 40 years of negotiation.

June 2011 China and Russia established the comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination, which entered into a new stage in 2014.

Trade

2018 The trade volume between China and Russia hit a record high of over $107 billion. China is Russia's largest trade partner for the ninth consecutive year.

2018 China imports more than 70 million tons of crude oil from Russia. Russia becomes China's largest crude oil supplier for the third consecutive year.

2018 Two-way agricultural trade exceeded $5 billion for the first time. China has become Russia's largest export country for agricultural products since 2015.

Jan. - Sept., 2018 Electronic commerce between China and Russia hit a record high of $3.7 billion.

Infrastructure

Feb. 26, 2014 The first cross-river railway bridge connecting China and Russia, Tongjiang Railway Bridge, broke ground. Construction of the bridge was completed on March 20, 2019.

Dec. 24, 2016 The first cross-river highway bridge connecting China's Heihe and the Russian city of Blagoveshchensk started construction, which is expected to open to the public in October 2019.

April 5, 2019 A Chinese-built metro tunnel was drilled through in Moscow. It's the first of its kind in Russia constructed by a Chinese firm.

Energy

Natural gas

May 21, 2014 Russia agreed to supply China with 38 billion cubic meters of natural gas from the eastern pipeline every year for 30 years in a deal worth $400 billion. The pipeline is expected to start sending gas to China on Dec 20, 2019.

July 19, 2018 Russia's Novatek delivered its first cargos of liquefied natural gas from the Yamal LNG project to China via Arctic. The passageway is important for Yamal, because it cuts shipping times to Asia by nearly half — to 15 days.

Crude oil

Jan. 1, 2011 The first East Siberia-Pacific Ocean, or ESPO, pipeline began sending 15 million tons of Russian crude oil to China per year.

Jan. 1, 2018 The extension of the ESPO oil pipeline between Russia and China started operating, doubling export volumes from 15 to 30 million tons annually.

Nuclear power

Oct. 20, 1999 First concrete was poured for Tianwan Nuclear Power Plant, the biggest joint nuclear project between China and Russia.

June 8, 2018 China and Russia agreed to build four nuclear reactors in China — two at the Xudabao power plant and two more at Tianwan — at a cost of $3.6 billion, the biggest nuclear energy deal between the two countries over the last decade.

Sci-tech

May 8, 2015 China and Russia signed the BeiDou-Glonass system compatibility and interoperability cooperation agreement, marking a new stage of navigation cooperation between the two countries.

June 25, 2016 China and Russia signed an agreement to design a heavy civilian helicopter, known as the Advanced Heavy Lifter, which could be used in rescue missions and vehicle transportation, especially in natural disasters.

Nov. 1, 2017 China and Russia agreed to a deal committing the countries to cooperation in six space-related areas for 2018 to 2022, including lunar and deep space, joint spacecraft development, space electronics, Earth remote sensing data and space debris monitoring.

Nov. 6, 2018 A full-scale prototype of CR929, the first wide-body long-haul passenger aircraft jointly developed by China and Russia, made its debut at Airshow China in Zhuhai, Guangdong province.

April 10, 2019 China and Russia signed the first scientific cooperation agreement together, setting up the "China-Russia Arctic Research Center" as part of the Polar Silk Road.

Culture

Sept. 13, 2017 The first Sino-Russian cooperative university, Shenzhen MSU-BIT University, held an opening ceremony to begin its inaugural semester in Guangdong province.

October 2018 Nearly 85,000 Chinese and Russian students were studying in each other's countries, an increasing number year after year.

2018 Chinese tourists made 1.97 million trips to Russia when Russian travelers also made nearly two million trips to China.

Military

August 2005 China and Russia launched their first-ever joint military exercises called "Peace Mission 2005",performed by 10,000 troops from the two countries.

May 9, 2015 China's guards of honor joined the V-Day parade in Moscow and marched through the Red Square. It was the first time for Chinese soldiers to participate in Russian Victory Day parades.

September 2018 China took part in the Vostok-2018, or East-2018, strategic drills held by Russia, the largest event in the recent history of the country's armed forces maneuvers featuring 300,000 soldiers.

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