BEIJING. Dec 11: Beijing and Moscow have laid the basis for a 21st century partnership aimed at countering the perceived US domination of the world stage, analysts said Friday.

"The results of the visit of President (Boris) Yeltsin will push forward our strategic partnership and be beneficial to global stability and a multipolar world." Xia Yishen. a career Chinese diplomat and senior researcher at China's Institute of International Studies told AFP.

Yeltsin's two-day summit with Chinese President Jiang Zemin cemented Beijing and Moscow's position against growing US military and political dominance, he said.

The two neighbours also 1s-

sued a Joint communique which condemned Washington's attempts to amend the Anti-Ballistic Missile (AMB) Treaty.

Washington needs to amend the treaty in order to legally open the way for a proposed US National Missile Defence and a proposed joint US-Japanese Theater Missile Defence for East Asia.

The defence system is expected to be able to defend the United States and its allies against the attack of incoming nuclear missiles and if successful would give the US a clear global strategic advantage.

But both plans have been adamantly opposed by Moscow and Beijing.

"If the US violates the AMB treaty, one thing is very clear. ’ and that is that China and Rus-

sia will strengthen consultations and cooperation on a Joint reaction." Xia said.

Although neither side have committed to Jointly building their own version of an anti-ballistic missile defence system, if the US violates the treaty seen as a pillar of today’s global strategic balance. China and Russia would not stand idly by. he added.

But Bob Brqadfoot. at the Hong Kong-based Political and Economic Risk Consultancy, said the summit was more posturing aimed at addressing the deteriorating relations between Washington and Moscow.

He discounted the possibility

thaf the heated rhetoric would go much beyond words.

This does not mean that we will have a new China-Russian bloc pitted against the US because both countries need their commercial ties with the America.” Broadfoot told AFP.

But China, like any other country, would continue to improve its military capabilities and strengthen its national security as it economy grows, he said.

Tn this sense there is an arms race, but when has China! ever not tried to improve its military capability? If there is new technology out there you are going to want it." he said.

Both sides also opposed the US-backed "new interventionism" which was most recently seen in the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia under the pretext of humanitarian intervention, Xia said.

China and Russia watched angrily as NATO circumvented the United Nations and unilaterally bqmbed Yugoslavia, denouncing the action as an'un-precedented effort to establish uni-polar dominance and interfere in the internal affairs of a sovereign nation. Xia said both sides viewed their Joint opposition to the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia as leading the way to establishing internationally recognised conditions on global intervention into the affairs of sovereign states,.

“Now what happened in Yu-

goslavia cannot happen again unless two conditions are met.... the first being that a sovereign nation must invite international Intervention and the second is that the UN must administer it." he said.

Xia said the West would not dare to intervene in Chechnya. China gave unequivocal backing to Moscow's offensive against Chechen rebels, saying in the communique it supported "the government of the Russian republic's action in fighting terrorism and splittism forces."

China sees reflections in the Chechen conflict in Its own stand over Taiwan, which it views as a breakaway rebel province which will one day be reunited with the mainland ,-through force if necessary.