BEIJING. Nov 10: President Jiang Zemin said Monday that China wants a "strategic partnership" of closer economic and political ties with Russia but will not revive their' formal alliance of the 1950s. reports AP.

Jiang and visiting Russian President Boris Yeltsin, meeting in a friendly atmosphere for their third summit, planned to settle a decades-old border dispute and work on ways to increase trade.

, Jiang, at a Joint news conference, described their relations as a "strategic partnership." echoing the statement he issued with President Clinton after their summit two weeks ago promising closer Sino-US ties.

But he rejected suggestions that Beijing and Moscow are banding together to offset growing US global influence.

"We will not form an alliance. and this kind of longterm friendly relations is not

directed against another country." the Chinese leader said.

The Communist fraternal-ism shared by China and the Soviet Union in the 1950s gave way to rivalry for the allegiance of the socialist world. Beijing and Washington forged diplomatic ties in the 1970s out of suspicion of Moscow. Now Beijing and Moscow are interested in finding counterbalances to Washington's power.

Yeltsin, who arrived in Beijing on Sunday night, said the two leaders had developed a "relationship of trust." He noted that Jiang studied in Russia during the 1950s and speaks Russian.

"It's very important for us to improve this kind of relationship between the two governments," Yeltsin said.

Trade is a key goal of the summit. The two sides have set a target of annual trade of 20 billion dollars by 2000, but this year it mav not even reach the

lackluster'1996 level of 7 billion dollars.

Russia blames China for the trade woes. The Russian news agency ITAR-Tass on Sunday quoted Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov as citing Chinese trade rules that keep out Russian planes, fertiliser and ferrous metals.

The border agreement, six years in the making, is being held up as proof of their new cooperation. It lays out the long eastern frontier, from Mongolia to the Tumen River near the Sea of Japan and includes territory the two fought over as re-. cently as 1969. The shorter western border Is still being ne-gotiated.

Jiang and Yeltsin signed a Joint statement on their meeting. the official Chinese news agency Xinhua said without giving details. Xinhua quoted Jiang as saying the two had discussed possible new areas for future cooperation.