MOSCOW — Teaming up in a thinly veiled attack on perceived U.S. efforts to dominate the world, Russia and China on Friday issued a declaration demanding respect for the right of all countries to develop free of outside interference.
Signed by Russian President Vladimir V. Putin and Chinese President Hu Jintao on the second day of a summit here, the statement denounces "the aspiration for monopoly and domination in international affairs" and calls for an end to "attempts to divide nations into leaders and those being led."
While not mentioning the United States directly, the Declaration on World Order in the 21st Century leaves no doubt that Washington is its main target.
Russian-Chinese ties have been steadily warming, boosted by the signing last year and ratification this spring of the final settlement of a prolonged border dispute. The two countries plan to hold their first joint military maneuvers this year in China.
Putin and Hu offered each other support in Moscow's war against separatist rebels in the republic of Chechnya and Beijing's effort to assert control over Taiwan, which it considers a renegade province.
"Any actions aimed at splitting sovereign states and kindling ethnic discord are inadmissible," the statement says.
"The declaration reflects similar approaches by Russia and China to fundamental world policy issues," Putin told reporters after the signing ceremony. "We understand well the importance of good-neighborly relations based on partnership between Russia and China, both for our own peoples and for the entire world."
Hu told reporters that the two sides had discussed cooperation concerning Taiwan and Chechnya, promotion of stability in Central Asia, reform of the United Nations and "the nuclear problem of the Korean peninsula."
The declaration shows that Moscow and Beijing "don't quite believe the sincerity of the second Bush administration's attempts to break its image of being a proponent of unilateral actions and decisions," said Andrei Kortunov, president of the New Eurasia Foundation in Moscow.
"It is confirmation that Washington's attempts to somehow draw various countries into cooperation on a whole number of issues doesn't seem very convincing to China and Russia," Kortunov said.
"This may be connected with the unilateral actions of Washington in the Middle East, its latest decisions on increasing its defense budget and some others."
