Speaking at the Valdai international discussion club organized by RIA Novosti and the State Duma's Council on External and Defense Policy, Andrei Klimov, 50, member of the United Russia faction in the State Duma, said, "Russia is pursuing the strategy of reasonable rationalism."
He compared Russia's cooperation with western and eastern partners to having interest in different sports. "The fact that Russia plays hockey with China does not mean it is not willing to play soccer with Europe at the same time," he said.
Professor Shigeki Hakamada of Aoyama Gakuin University (Japan), a prominent expert on Russian-Japanese relations, said, "The recent intensification of the activity of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) has not been caused by the growing terrorist threat, but rather by the improvement of Russian-Chinese relations, which is hurting Russia's cooperation with the West."
He also spoke about existing problems in the Russian-Japanese relations and urged both countries to expand bilateral cooperation.
