By Ian Ransom
BEIJING (Reuters) - New Russian President Dmitry Medvedevarrives in Beijing on Friday, offering energy deals andmilitary cooperation but seeking pledges of solidarity withresurgent China at a time when ties with the West are strained.
Moscow has been annoyed by what it sees as Western attemptsto contain its diplomatic ambitions and keep Russian companiesout of lucrative markets. It will be keen to shore up supportin China, which it sees as a potential ally against a Westernworld order.
"Our foreign policy must be reasonable, pragmatic, but alsofriendly and open. And we certainly count the People's Republicof China among our most important foreign partners," Medvedevtold Chinese reporters in an interview, a transcript of whichwas posted on the Kremlin government website on Thursday.
Medvedev is to meet Chinese President Hu Jintao on Friday,with the leaders expected to sign a joint communique outliningcommon ground in international policy.
"In these documents there will be a lot of answers andelaborations showing the shared position of China and Russia onmajor international issues including new world order,international stability, new challenges and threats and so on,"Russian ambassador to China Sergey Razov said this week.
"Also on sensitive issues, including Iranian and Koreannuclear issues among others, we have a common position."
China and Russia have frustrated Western moves to thwartIran's atomic ambitions, using their permanent membership onthe U.N. Security Council to water down sanctions. Both areinvolved in multilateral talks to rein in North Korea's nuclearprogramme.
The two countries have also proposed a treaty to banweapons in space, in the face of U.S. plans for a missiledefence shield in eastern Europe which Moscow suspects will beused to spy on Russia's missile arsenal.
"I have to reiterate that the decisions that have beentaken so far cannot make us happy, and we will be forced torespond appropriately to any decisions that are taken,"Medvedev said.
Moscow and Beijing are also the leaders of the ShanghaiCooperation Organisation, a regional grouping which claims astrong security role in Central Asia and is seen in Moscow asan alternative to Western political domination.
But the new Russian president also has to address concernsat home about China's growing military and economic clout andits rivalry for influence in resource-rich Central Asia.
Medvedev arrives only a day after visiting neighbouringKazakhstan, a country seen as key to Moscow's strategy ofkeeping Central Asia's gas out of Western hands and a rivalsupplier for China's prodigious energy appetite.
Seeing huge potential for developing trade ties withBeijing, which represents a largely untapped market forRussia's abundant oil and gas, Medvedev is accompanied by adelegation packed with senior energy and investment officials.
Trade between the two rising powers has soared seven-foldover the past decade, from $6.83 billion (3.45 billion pounds)in 1996 to $48 billion in 2007, largely driven by burgeoningcrude oil exports to China.
But Medvedev faces pressure at home to improve the terms oftrade, with exports of cheap Chinese electronics and carsflooding Russian markets, fuelling an $8.8 billion tradedeficit.
"Our task is not just to increase the amount of tradeoverall ... it's also to optimise it," Medvedev said, toutingcooperation in aviation and space technology.
The visit may yield an agreement on nuclear energycooperation, but preliminary deals to transport Russian gasinto China via planned pipelines are unlikely to make furtherheadway, remaining bogged down over long-standing pricingdisputes.
(Reporting by Ian Ransom; Editing by Nick Macfie and RogerCrabb)
