Putin briefs China on his pro-Western policies

Putin briefs China on his pro-Western policies

Richard Balmforth, Reuters, Beijing

Russian President Vladimir Putin, seeking to justify his pro-
Western policies to a Chinese audience, said on Tuesday it would
be "absolutely counter-productive" to seek confrontation with the
United States.

Speaking to students at Peking University at the end of a
visit to China, Putin said the United States was "our biggest
trade partner, our partner in the anti-terrorism coalition and
our joint action in this direction is quite effective".

"Our views on key world questions do not always coincide," he
said, referring to Washington, as Chinese President Jiang Zemin
listened from his seat nearby.

But Putin immediately added: "We consider it absolutely
counter-productive to lead relations into the field of
confrontation."

"On those questions where, in our opinion, our views do not
coincide, we will of course defend our national interests." For
the last few years, China and Russia have been trying to build a
new strategic partnership based partly on opposition to U.S.
dominance of world affairs and to international humanitarian
intervention within another country's borders.

But Russia has leaned towards a more pro-Western foreign
policy, even engaging with NATO, since the Sept. 11, 2001,
attacks on the United States.

Putin and U.S. President George W. Bush cemented a deepening
relationship when they met at Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas in
November last year.

China too has been warming up to Washington. In October, Jiang
went to Crawford and China approached NATO to seek a strategic
dialog for the first time in the alliance's 53-year history.

Putin reaffirmed that Russia remained opposed to the
enlargement of NATO decided at a summit in Prague last month.

But he said Moscow was satisfied with the work accomplished in
the NATO-Russia Council, which he said Russia had joined to
tackle common global security threats.

"We react negatively (to NATO enlargement) because we do not
consider that simply mechanical enlargement will strengthen
international security," he said.

At the same time, he said, there was no need for Russia to set
up any buffer zone against the three ex-Soviet Baltic countries
which will be joining the alliance because they did not represent
a "hostile environment" to Russia.

Putin said new security threats had emerged in the form of
international terrorism, proliferation of weapons of mass
destruction, and political and religious extremism.

"This was always there, but now this sickness has taken on a
global form throughout the world," he said.

Beijing and Moscow have both backed Bush's war on terrorism,
partly in the hope of garnering support for their own campaigns
against Muslim separatists they consider terrorists.

But both have strong reservations about possible U.S. plans
for military action against Iraq and are keen to strengthen the
United Nations' role and fiercely oppose U.S. unilateralism.

"Disregarding international agreements is absolutely
inadmissible, as is the practice of double standards and attempts
to try to solve disputes unilaterally," said Putin.

"And here our external approaches and priorities coincide
absolutely with those of China," he said. "We are not just
friendly neighbors. We are equal and interested partners."

Putin left China on Tuesday and headed for India where he is
to meet Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee during a
three-day visit.