Yeltsin Seeks Stronger Ties With China

Fresh from a historic summit with another important Asian neighbor, Japan, Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin heads to China on Sunday to shore up ties with the region’s looming giant.

Chinese President Jiang Zemin is just back from a successful U.S. visit, with promises from President Clinton of vital expansion of trade and economic ties between the two countries.

But in the post-bipolar world, analysts here and in Beijing insist, one diplomatic relationship’s gain does not have to mean detriment to another, and Russian and Chinese officials are predicting further breakthroughs toward regional stability and cooperation during Yeltsin’s three-day visit.

“Russia and China are both interested in the political and economic stability of the entire region, and the only way to achieve this stability is through the development of solid economies in all the countries,” said Vladimir Rakhmanin, deputy director of the Asian Affairs Department of the Foreign Ministry.

Like other Asia-watchers, Rakhmanin cites economic cooperation as the most troubled aspect of relations between Beijing and Moscow, as the volume of trade has never exceeded $7 billion a year--a pitiful sum for two huge countries with abundances of labor and natural resources. China and Russia have only about 2,000 joint ventures in operation, compared to 280,000 involving Chinese and Western partners.

“The two leaders have reached an agreement to increase bilateral trade turnover to $20 billion a year,” Yeltsin’s spokesman, Sergei Yastrzhembsky, told reporters before the summit, while noting that the objective of boosting trade to that level by the year 2000 might be overly ambitious.

Still, Yeltsin’s visit to Beijing is expected to be “extremely important, epoch-making,” enthused Arkady Volsky, president of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs and leader of a delegation of 57 prominent businessmen accompanying the Russian president for the summit. Volsky predicted that the business envoys will make progress in sewing up long-term projects such as a gas pipeline from Russia’s Irkutsk region, nuclear power-plant construction and delivery of electricity to energy-starved China.

When Jiang left, U.S. officials were gloating at the prospect of exporting billions of dollars worth of nuclear reactor equipment to China over the next decade, but Beijing officials say they are just as keen to import nuclear technology from Russia. During Yeltsin’s visit, China expects to sign a contract for the purchase of two light-water reactors for a $3.2-billion nuclear plant in Lianyungang.

Major sales of Russian military equipment, including advanced SU-37 and SU-30 warplanes, are also pending endorsement by the Russian and Chinese leaders. China now accounts for about 30% of Russian arms exports, buying more than $1 billion worth each year.

Despite the heavy arms traffic, Russia’s aim in expanding trade with China is to put more emphasis on mutual development of energy production facilities and manufacturing, says Alexei Voskresensky, an analyst at Moscow’s Far East Institute, a think tank affiliated with the Academy of Sciences.

“Russia doesn’t talk about seeking a strategic partnership with China or a regional security bloc; what is being pursued is a constructive partnership,” meaning stronger business and cultural ties, Voskresensky adds.

Among the seven agreements already prepared for Yeltsin and Jiang to sign are accords on cooperation in banking, diamond mining and polishing, and protection of endangered tigers.

The most significant event of the summit, though, may be the leaders’ intention to finalize demarcation of the 2,600-mile Sino-Russian border, which has been the source of bitter conflict for decades. With both Russia and China planning significant troop cuts as part of ongoing military reform, settlement of the border issues is an important step that will allow redeployment of armed forces away from the lengthy frontier.

Anthony Kuhn of The Times’ Beijing Bureau contributed to this report.