On May 30, 2019, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs held a briefing for Chinese and foreign media. Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Hanhui briefed the media on President Xi Jinping's state visit to Russia and his attendance at the 23rd St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), and then answered questions from the journalists.

Zhang Hanhui expressed that President Xi Jinping will pay a state visit to Russia from June 5 to 7 and attend the SPIEF. At present, the international situation is undergoing profound changes unseen in a century, with mounting unilateralism seriously impacting the basic norms governing international relations, surging regional hotspot issues, and rising common threats and challenges facing human society. Under the current circumstances, China-Russia relations have become increasingly mature, stable and resilient. Both sides enjoy firm and solid political mutual trust, and firmly support each other on issues concerning each other's core interests and major concerns. Bilateral trade volume exceeded 100 billion US dollar last year, reaching a record high. Large-scale projects with strategic significance in fields such as energy, aviation, aerospace, and interconnectivity have been steadily advanced while cooperation in emerging fields such as agriculture, finance, science and technology, and e-commerce has developed rapidly. Bilateral cooperation has shown strong endogenous dynamic and broad development prospects. Both sides jointly held the year of cooperation and exchanges at local levels in 2018 and 2019, with local exchanges continuing to expand and people-to-people and cultural exchanges continuing to heat up. China and Russia have carried out close and effective coordination in international affairs, firmly safeguarded the international system with the United Nations as the core and the international order based on international law, resolutely upheld world peace and stability and international fairness and justice, and unequivocally advocated multilateralism and an open world economy, playing a role of ballast and stabilizer in the volatile international environment.

Zhang Hanhui pointed out that this year marks the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Russia. This is President Xi Jinping's first state visit to Russia since his election as Chinese President. The visit is of milestone significance in the development of bilateral relations and will surely push China-Russia relations for greater development under new circumstances, and embark on a new journey. During the visit, President Xi Jinping will hold state events with President Vladimir Putin, jointly attend a series of colorful people-to-people and cultural events such as the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the establishment of China-Russia diplomatic relations, and sign or witness the signing of important cooperation documents. President Xi Jinping will also attend the SPIEF. The theme of the plenary session of the forum is "Creating a Sustainable Development Agenda". President Xi Jinping will deliver a speech at the plenary session of the forum, expounding on China's important proposals in the field of sustainable development, and work with all parties to advocate multilateralism and improve global governance, so as to achieve common development and prosperity of the global village.

Zhang Hanhui emphasized that President Xi Jinping and President Vladimir Putin will comprehensively summarize the development experience of bilateral relations over the past 70 years, make strategic plans for the future development of China-Russia relations, and promote improvement and upgrading of bilateral relations. This visit will consolidate the political foundation of China-Russia relations, confirm greater support for each other on issues concerning each other's core and major concerns, and ensure bilateral relations will not be affected by any change in the international situation. It will open up new prospects for practical cooperation in various fields, translate the advantages of the high-level political relations between the two countries into more tangible results and improve the well-being of the two peoples. It is believed that with the joint efforts of China and Russia, President Xi Jinping's visit to Russia will surely be a complete success and will promote China-Russian relations to build on past achievements and forge ahead into a new era, so as to make greater contributions to the development and revitalization of the two countries and world peace and stability.