Hu was in Russia from 26-28 March for a visit to mark Moscow’s launch of 2007 as the Year of China. Beijing labelled 2006 the Year of Russia. The governments hope that their mutual affirmation will cement a strategic relationship that has become a counterweight to US primacy in global affairs.

The highlight of Hu’s visit was his meeting with Putin at the Kremlin on 26 March. The two signed trade and investment deals worth some US$2bn aimed at encouraging further expansion in two-way trade, which has grown fivefold since 2000 to US$30bn. Businessmen from Russia and China followed their leaders’ example, signing US$4bn-worth of deals during Hu’s stay.

A joint statement issued afterwards said the two leaders had formalised a "high level of pragmatic cooperation and mutual coordination in the international arena". The agreement covered parliamentary exchanges, energy cooperation, and bilateral plans to revive the economies of China’s north-east and Russia’s Far East. The leaders also agreed to work together on immigration issues and on protecting the environment.

Perhaps most striking, however, was their unequivocal position on foreign policy. "China’s and Russia’s position on the international issues involving major principles is identical, and their positions are identical or similar on major regional and international issues," the joint statement declared. Hu and Putin said they were in agreement over North Korea, the Middle East, Iraq, and Iran. They stressed that "the Iranian nuclear issue can only be resolved peacefully through talks" even though Russia and China had voted in favour of sanctions against Iran at the UN on 25 March.

Putin and Hu pledged to continue their policy of taking a common position at the UN Security Council, and stressed the need to carry out a comprehensive reform of the organization. The two leaders said they would cooperate more in Asia, for example via the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the Asean regional forum. On 28 March Chinese state media announced that Hu and Putin had also agreed to carry out a joint exploration of Mars. "It indicates the two sides have taken a key step forward to working on a large space programme," the China Daily quoted a Chinese official as saying.

Such extensive cooperation is a major source of concern to Washington, especially at a time when relations between the White House and the Kremlin are so fragile. However, there remain strong reasons why at least a degree of distrust between Beijing and Moscow will remain regardless of how many deals they sign.

Russia is concerned that Beijing is interested only in Russian natural resources, and there is a powerful lobby within Moscow that is opposed to what it terms the colonialist relationship Beijing is trying to foster. It was notable that one deal which did not go through during Hu’s stay was an agreement between Russian oil company Rosneft and China’s Sinopec.

Putin is also under pressure at home to control the massive Chinese migration into the Russian Far East. The president has often talked about the demographic crisis Russia is facing, but his critics say that his words are at odds with his relaxed attitude to the huge influx of Chinese. According to the Russian immigration authorities more than 300,000 Chinese crossed the Russian border in 2006, and the number of illegal immigrants from China in Russia could be as many as 700,000.