China thanks Russia for earthquake aid

Chinese President Hu Jintao thanked Russia's new president for offering speedy aid after last week's powerful earthquake, as the two began meetings Friday to bolster their partnership with expanded nuclear cooperation.

The trip is Dmitry Medvedev's first since his inauguration earlier this month as the hand-picked successor to Vladimir Putin, underscoring the importance the two countries place on a relationship that both see as a counterbalance to U.S. dominance. But continued friction between the neighboring giants remains _ especially over oil and gas in Central Asia.

At the start of their talks, Hu thanked both Medvedev and Putin _ now prime minister _ for assistance offered after the May 12 quake that struck central China. Russia sent rescue crews and a mobile hospital to the disaster area in central Sichuan province.

"Your visit to China is very important and will allow us to not only preserve but to advance all the good undertakings we have had," Hu said. "We are sure that it will give a powerful impulse to the development of strategic partnership and cooperation."

Medvedev offered his condolences to quake victims and relatives of more than 55,000 dead.

"Russia is ready to provide all the necessary assistance and aid to our Chinese friends," he said. "You must have no doubt that we will do everything necessary."

The two leaders' talks were to conclude later Friday with a series of agreements including a $1 billion deal on Russian help building a uranium enrichment facility for electricity generation and regular shipments of low-enriched uranium to China.

"We are ready to conduct general dialogue on all aspects of our strategic partnership," Medvedev said.

Medvedev's came to China from a stop in neighboring Kazakhstan, where he was seeking to preserve his country's clout in energy-rich central Asia and send a message to both Beijing and the West that Moscow continues to see the region as its home turf.

China already has won a cut of the region's riches, reaching an oil pipeline deal with Kazakhstan and negotiating a gas agreement with Turkmenistan.

There is also rich symbolism in Medvedev's choice of China as the main destination of his first foreign trip. When his predecessor Putin went abroad for the first time as president in 2000, he traveled to London _ via Belarus _ with a message Russia wanted closer ties to the West.

In recent years, China and Russia have made highly symbolic political overtures to one another, holding joint military maneuvers and engaging in high-level talks on creating a "multi-polar world."

They have taken a coordinated stance on several global issues, sharing opposition to Kosovo's independence and U.S. missile defense plans, and taking a similar approach to the Iran nuclear issue.

Putin greatly strengthened relations with China, reaching a long-delayed agreement on demarcation of the 2,700 mile border.

However, economic ties have lagged behind. Bilateral trade rose by about one-third last year to $48 billion, but still accounts for only 2 percent of China's global trade. China does more than eight times as much business with the United States.