23 January 2003 16:25
RUSSIA: PUTIN MOLLIFIES CONCERNS OVER CHINA...
President Putin also told the State Council that the issue of border delimitation between Russia and China will be
resolved in the near future, RIA-Novosti reported on 22 January. He said that talks on the issue are under way, but
noted that both sides still need to make compromises. Khabarovsk Krai Governor Viktor Ishaev, speaking after Putin, said
that China is carrying out a policy of active expansion in his region. "The political and business elite of China
believes that Russia has annexed 1.5 million square kilometers of [Chinese] territory," Ishaev was quoted as
saying. Ishaev claimed that the border-delimitation process is linked with Chinese domestic problems, including the fact
that the number of unemployed people in China exceeds the entire population of Russia. He also noted that 1.2 million
people left the Russian Far East in recent years, and he called for a reevaluation of "the strategy of relations
with China." Putin responded to Ishaev's remarks by saying that such a strategy already exists and the
cornerstone of it is the Sino-Russian friendship treaty that was signed in July 2001. VY Copyright (c) 2003. RFE/RL,
Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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