Chinese, Russian officials pledge to lift bilateral military cooperation

MOSCOW - Senior Chinese and Russian officials pledged here Wednesday to lift the level of bilateral military cooperation.

During talks with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, Xu Qiliang, vice chairman of China's Central Military Commission, said military cooperation, which involved high-level visits, technical exchanges, personnel training and joint drills, had been fruitful and enjoyed the support of both countries' leaders.

Xu noted Chinese President Xi Jinping paid his first state visit to Russia and met Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin several times this year, adding that the two leaders reached consensus on lifting the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination to a higher level and outlined the direction of the development of bilateral ties.

China, Xu said, is willing to work with Russia to implement the consensus, achieve practical results in defense cooperation and lift cooperation between the two militaries to a higher level.

Shoigu said the two militaries had carried out a series of exchange projects this year, which testified to the high level of cooperation.

Russia was positive about the pragmatic cooperation between the two militaries, he said, suggesting the two sides expand areas of cooperation and innovate forms of cooperation in order to deepen the development of bilateral military ties.