On Friday, September 9, the Chairman of the State Duma and leaders of factions held a meeting with the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress Li Zhanshu.
That was the second day of Li Zhanshu's official visit to Moscow. The day before the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's
Congress had already held a bilateral meeting with Vyacheslav Volodin
Vyacheslav Victorovich
The Chairman of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation of the eighth convocation. Elected in single mandate constituency № 163 (Saratov constituency - Saratov Oblast)
, on September 9, speakers met with leaders of the State Duma factions. Vyacheslav Volodin and Li Zhanshu had negotiated for almost six hours for those two days.
Vyacheslav Volodin stressed that all factions of the State Duma supported development of cooperation with China.
“There may be completely different point of views when parliamentarians adopt laws or regulations. But, despite having different political views, all of them agree that we should develop cooperation with China on the principles of friendship, mutual respect and non-interference in internal affairs,” Vyacheslav Volodin said at the meeting.
According to him, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping “have developed a unique model of cooperation between states based on trust and mutual respect.” “The fundamental non-confrontational nature, supporting mutual benefit and development, rather than competition, can become a good example for other states,” emphasized the Chairman of the State Duma.
Li Zhanshu noted the importance of cooperation not only at the level of the parliaments of Russia and China, but also between political parties. “The Chinese Communist Party is always ready to establish close ties with all parties in Russia,” he said.
He also assured members of the State Duma that “China understands and supports Russia on issues that represent its vital interests, in particular on the situation in Ukraine”.
“We see that the United States and its NATO allies are expanding their presence near the Russian borders, seriously threatening national security and the lives of Russian citizens. We fully understand the necessity of all the measures taken by Russia aimed at protecting its key interests, we are providing our assistance,” emphasized the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.
“On the Ukrainian issue, we see how they have put Russia in an impossible situation. And in this case, Russia made an important choice and responded firmly,” added Li Zhanshu.
Factions’ position
The CPRF faction leader Gennady
Zyuganov
Gennady Andreyevich
noted the importance of further development and strengthening of strategic partnership established by Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping.
“Our country, Parliament, President, Government will actively strengthen the strategic partnership. A lot of things now depend on it,” emphasized the leader of the CPRF faction. He expressed hope that cooperation between the two countries “first of all, will contribute to peace, humanism and justice.”
“Your visit takes place in the current, very turbulent international situation. The provocative actions of the United States of America and its satellites practically put the whole world on the brink of a civilizational catastrophe,” said Sergey Mironov
Sergey Mikhailovich
, leader of the Just Russia – For Truth faction.
“The strong will and determination of our leaders, and support of many people in our countries, is a guarantee that the world will definitely be multipolar and will never slide into a catastrophe,” he said.
The leader of the LDPR
faction, Chairman of the Committee on International Affairs Leonid Slutsky
Leonid Eduardovich
recalled that Russia condemned the US actions against China: “The US is the only country in the world that at the legislative level let the authorities interfere
in the constitutional order of other countries.”
Leonid Slutsky proposed to intensify cooperation between Russia and China at the level of international organizations, primarily BRICS and SCO. According to the leader of the LDPR faction, “we can think about creating a parliamentary dimension, independent parliamentary BRICS and SCO structures”. He proposed to discuss that issue at the level of relevant committees of the State Duma and the National People's Congress.
“The old world order, which
was built solely in the interests of a small group of countries led by the United States of America, shows moral bankruptcy and is collapsing. It will be
replaced by a new world order, and Russia and China will play a very great role
in its building,” said Alexey Nechaev
Alexey Gennadievich
, leader of the New People faction.
The leader of the United
Russia faction, Vladimir Vasiliev
Vladimir Abdualievich
, noted the importance of consolidating all
the State Duma factions on key issues. “Criticism and competition are very useful
in politics. But we make political decisions. We had an exam recently: we
adopted a law on recognition of the LPR and DPR. All political factions backed
it. And the people, our voters, supported us,” he said.
He added that the faction and the United Russia party continued substantive work with their Chinese colleagues. According to Vladimir Vasiliev, the inter-party dialogue between the United Russia and the Communist Party of China “is becoming the most important platform today”, and it is planned to hold the 10th joint meeting at the end of the year.
“I am deeply convinced that all that my comrades just have said, I support them, will be implemented on our part,” concluded the head of the faction.
The Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress
of China Li Zhanshu is paying an official visit to Russia at the invitation of the Chairman of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin. The day before, he took part
in the 7th Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok. He also met with Russian
President Vladimir Putin.
The day before, Vyacheslav Volodin and Li Zhanshu held a bilateral meeting. The Chairman of the State Duma and the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress agreed to further strengthen cooperation, as well as to exchange legislative experience in the field of countering external challenges and sanctions.
That is the first foreign visit of Li Zhanshu since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. He paid a visit to Russia in September 2019.
