China, Russia eye enhancing parliamentary cooperation

China's top legislator Zhao Leji on Monday called on China's National People's Congress (NPC) and the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation to fully leverage cooperation mechanisms and platforms, and continuously enhance exchanges and cooperation, Xinhua reported.

Zhao, chairman of China's NPC Standing Committee, made the remarks while hosting the 10th meeting of the China-Russia committee for parliamentary cooperation with Vyacheslav Volodin, chairman of the Russian State Duma, in Beijing.

Zhao said under the strategic guidance of the two heads of state, the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era has consistently maintained a healthy, stable, and high-level development momentum.

It has been proven that China-Russia cooperation features complementary strengths and immense potential, representing a strategic choice made by both sides based on their respective development and revitalization goals, Zhao added.

Efforts should be made to expand the content and forms of mechanism exchanges to meet the development needs of China-Russia relations in the new era, Zhao said. He added that the legislative bodies of the two countries should engage in mutual learning of governance experience, legislation and supervision to support the development and revitalization of their respective countries.

Volodin said the Russian State Duma is willing to strengthen friendly exchanges with China's NPC. Focused on implementing the important consensus reached by the two heads of state, it aims to leverage the mechanism and platform of the Russia-China committee for parliamentary cooperation, making contributions to promoting comprehensive cooperation between the two countries, optimizing the business environment, deepening cultural exchanges, jointly upholding a correct historical perspective on WWII, and safeguarding multilateralism.

Volodin's visit, amid US tariff wars, underscored the importance for China and Russia to deepen traditional areas of collaboration and advance pragmatic cooperation to ensure that bilateral economic ties continue to move forward, Yang Jin, an associate research fellow from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Volodin's visit comes days before SCO Summit in Tianjin, and the gathering to mark the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War which is scheduled for September 3.