‘Strategic partner’ Putin hailed in Beijing, but not all is well with anti-U.S. ‘alliance’

Special to WorldTribune.com

Given Defense Secretary Leon Panetta’s announcement earlier this month that the Pentagon is set to station some 60 percent of its naval capacity in the Asia-Pacific theater, the Chinese leadership has good reasons to play up the significance of the visit of newly re-elected Russian President Vladimir Putin.

putincoop — Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Hu Jintao at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Beijing on June 5. /Mark Ralston/Reuters

Apart from taking part in the annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization — which some Chinese commentators dub the “NATO of the East” — Putin made it a point to emphasize Moscow’s “all-weather strategic partnership” with Beijing.

The Russian strongman hailed China as Russia’s “strategic partner,” adding that “the two countries have maintained an open, trustworthy and mutually beneficial relationship in all sectors.”

Putin said the two countries would upgrade technological joint-ventures, for example in the production of long-range, wide-bodied aircraft and heavy-lift helicopters.

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‘Strategic partner’ Putin hailed in Beijing, Asia-Pacific theater, but not all is well with anti-U.S. ‘alliance’, Leon Panetta, Shanghai Cooperation Organization

‘Strategic partner’ Putin hailed in Beijing, but not all is well with anti-U.S. ‘alliance’ added by World Tribune on June 13, 2012
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