Ties with China at 'highest point': Medvedev

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Tuesday that Sino-Russian ties had reached their "highest point" as he wrapped up a state visit to China with a tour of the World Expo in Shanghai. Medvedev arrived in China's financial hub from Beijing, where he met President Hu Jintao and other leaders for talks focused on his country's crucial energy co-operation with Beijing.
The two sides - once bitter foes during the Cold War - celebrated the completion of a long-awaited cross-border oil pipeline linking Russia, the world's biggest oil producer, with China, the largest energy consumer. "Relations between Russia and China are at their highest point now. We are truly strategic partners," Medvedev said at a ceremony launching Russia Day at the massive Expo, a showcase of world culture and technology that began May 1.
"The very fact of visiting the exhibition is another demonstration of friendship between Russia and China," he said, adding the event showed that both countries were serious about pressing ahead with economic modernisation. "Innovations are a choice for our country," he said. Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping, Medvedev's host for the day in Shanghai, said the two countries were "good neighbours", adding that it was the "best period in history" for Sino-Russian relations. Medvedev and Xi - considered by many to be Hu's heir apparent - visited both the Chinese and Russian pavilions at the Expo and held talks before Medvedev heads back to Russia.
The Kremlin is keen to copy Beijing's recipe for economic success and modernisation - a buzz word in Medvedev's Russia. On Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Hu had told Medvedev Chinese investors were keen to be part of the building of a future innovation centre just outside Moscow, the Russian leader's pet project.
Viktor Vekselberg, a Russian billionaire whom Medvedev has put in charge of the project, said Russian and Chinese companies were in talks over possible opportunities to collaborate on the centre, but no firm deals had been signed. "We are working on it, establishing ties and contacts," he said. So far, energy accounts for the bulk of Sino-Russian co-operation.