AT THE INVITATION OF HIS RUSSIAN COUNTERPART Dmitry Medvedev, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang is visiting Russia. His visit is of great importance in terms of cooperation in a wide range of fields as about 40 mutually beneficial deals were inked between the two countries, including ones involving energy, high-speed railways and finance.

It is Premier Li's first visit to this important neighbor since he took office. And while all the exchanges between the top leaders of both countries in the past decade have laid a solid foundation and created an amicable atmosphere for further mutual cooperation, this visit is the one that is likely to bear the most concrete fruit yet.

It is 65 years since the two countries established diplomatic relations on the second day after the founding of the People's Republic of China was announced. Despite the blips in bilateral relations in the past decades, both sides have come to realize that sound bilateral relations must be based on mutually beneficial cooperation.

There is indeed great potential to tap in the economic cooperation between the two neighbors. The two economies are complementary. Russia has rich energy resources such as oil and gas, and China has infrastructure construction technology and experience. Russia has high-tech that China needs to upgrade its heavy industries while China's light industry can provide its neighbor with a lot of commodities it needs to improve people's living standards.

The list of agreements both sides signed includes railways, finance, customs, oil and gas, transport, telecommunications and science and technology. Cooperation in such a wide range of fields will considerably promote the economy of both countries, which will help create jobs and inject vigor into the economic growth of both.

With peaceful development as the road it chooses for its national rejuvenation, China is not selective in seeking cooperation partners as long as such cooperation is in the interests of both and is not in the harm's way of a third party.

With this principle, China has no reason not to develop mutually beneficial relations and a cooperative partnership with its largest neighbor.

It goes without saying that such big neighbors will both suffer if they choose not to cooperate with each other, and they will instead benefit all if they choose to cooperate by establishing partnerships on the basis of mutual benefit.

(China Daily 10/14/2014 page8)