“Seventy years is a milestone and a new starting point.” In 2019, President Xi Jinping attended the 70th Anniversary of China-Russia Diplomatic Relations during his visit to Russia on June 5 this year. The presidents of the two countries announced the development of a comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination in the new era so as to jointly promote and open a new era of greater development at higher level for China-Russia relations. 

On the occasion of the joint commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Russia, the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries organized the “70-year Road of Friendship for China-Russia Youth” to which 100 representatives of youth from all walks of life from different regions of China and Russia were invited, including 70 from Russia which represents the 70 years of friendship between China and Russia. From June 30 to July 5, the delegation visited Changchun of Jilin Province, a city of historical significance of China-Soviet Union friendship, Hangzhou of Zhejiang Province, which reflects China-Russia cooperation in the new era, and Beijing where all members attended the China-Russia Youth Conference. 

The activities scheduled on July 1 in Changchun City were organized by Jilin Provincial People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries and Changchun Municipal People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries. Zhu Tianshu, Vice Governor of Jilin Province, and Jia Lina, Vice Mayor of Changchun City, met with the representatives of youth in Changchun City. During their stay in the city, the delegation visited the Martyrs’ Monument of Soviet Union, the Historical Archives of FAW, and the factory of Jiefang trucks once assisted by the Soviet Union. In the afternoon, the representatives of the two countries planted a tree of friendship inside the Changchun Youth Park and attended the China-Russia Youth Forum. The activities in Changchun City were finally climaxed with the Night of Sino-Russian Youth Concert “Cherish Friendship and Join Hands for the Future” during which the young people of the two countries renewed the friendship formed by the blood of the Red Army of the Soviet Union, the Chinese military and civilians when they fought side by side, and reviewed the precious brotherhood formed by the Soviet Union’s aid experts and Chinese colleagues at the beginning of the founding of the People’s Republic of China through which all representatives truly felt the great significance of the unremitting effort by the leaders of the two countries in promoting bilateral relations to a new historical height, and thus formed their own ideas and expectations on future bilateral relations. 

The event is an important commemorative measure taken by the associations for friendship with foreign counties at national and local levels for the implementation of President Xi Jinping’s instruction on local cooperation and exchanges between China and Russia when he attended the 4th Oriental Forum in Vladivostok last September. The activities are of far-reaching significance to promoting the mutual understanding and friendship among the people especially the young people of the two countries. The representatives of youth who joined the event expressed that they would cherish, inherit and develop the traditional friendship between China and Russia, jointly safeguard world peace and write a new chapter of traditional friendship and common development for the people from generation to generation of the two countries.