China, Russia Won’t Revive Old Alliance
China and Russia will not revive their formal alliance of the 1950s, but the nations’ presidents emerged from an amiable meeting Monday to announce that they will pursue closer economic and political ties.
Presidents Jiang Zemin and Boris N. Yeltsin--pledging “equality and mutual respect”--settled a decades-long border dispute and authorized agreements on trade and the protection of rare Manchurian tigers.
Jiang accorded Yeltsin the trappings of a major state visit. The two leaders stood atop a red-carpeted reviewing stand outside the Great Hall of the People as Chinese soldiers in dress uniforms goose-stepped by.
The leaders--meeting for their third summit in 20 months--rejected suggestions that Beijing and Moscow are banding together to offset growing U.S. global influence.
“We will not form an alliance, and this kind of long-term relationship is not directed against another country,” Jiang said.
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