Putin's foreign policies likely to tilt toward Asia

The new Russian administration under the leadership of Vladimir Putin is likely to continue its current foreign policies while tilting toward economically robust Asia and strengthening the country's partnership with China, analysts said.

Putin won a resounding victory in Sunday's presidential election with about 64 percent of the vote, results showed on Monday.

Having stressed an "economic diplomacy" aimed at reviving Russia's economy by creating a favorable external environment for economic growth, Putin is unlikely to make major changes to Russia's foreign policies, which have already been outlined by the "Medvedev-Putin tandem", said Xing Guangcheng, a researcher on Russian studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

"We see before our eyes not only the rise of China and India, but the growing weight of the entire Asia-Pacific Region," Putin wrote in an article published recently framing Russia's foreign policies.

In September, Russia will host the annual meetings of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, which involves major economies in the region. The meetings will be "another good opportunity for Russia to strengthen its role in this region", Xing said.

Russia also became a member of the East Asia Summit in 2011, an important platform for discussions on broad strategic, political and economic issues in the region.

Putin also stressed the importance of Russia's relationship with its neighbor China, which he sees as "a major hub of the global economy" that shares Russia's "vision of the merging equitable world order".

China became Russia's top trading partner for the first time in 2010, and the two countries are seeking to nearly double trade to $100 billion by 2015.

Vladimir Frolov, president of government relations firm LEFF Group, told China Daily that Putin “has a strong commercial relationship with China. We understand that China will buy more and more gas. There's popular demand for cleaner fuel in China. And Russia stands the best chance to supply ... natural gas to China.”

"Russia badly needs major infrastructure development, particularly highway construction and high-speed rail - not only in the Far East and Siberia, but also in European parts of Russia. So Chinese contractors and companies could be welcomed," Frolov said.

The two countries are allies but also competitors in many respects, particularly in access to natural gas deposits in Central Asia, he said.

Questions:

1. How many votes did Putin win by?

2. When will Russia host the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting?

3. What do China and Russia seek to do by 2015?

Answers:

1. About 64 percent of the votes.

2. September.

3. Double trade to $100 billion.