BEIJING - General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and President Xi Jinping on Wednesday sent a congratulatory message to the United Russia party on the 20th anniversary of its founding.

Expressing sincere congratulations, Xi said that as an important political force in Russia, the United Russia party has been working actively to unite and lead the Russian people to implement the strategic policies set by President Vladimir Putin, and achieve political stability, economic development and improvement of people's well-being at home, as well as a higher status on the world stage, and has won broad support in Russian society.

Noting that this year marks the 20th anniversary of the establishment of relations between the CPC and United Russia, he pointed out that over the past 20 years, the inter-party relationship has kept moving forward, and played a unique role in implementing the important consensuses between the heads of state of the two countries, consolidating political and strategic mutual trust between China and Russia, promoting the two countries' all-round cooperation of mutual benefit, and deepening strategic coordination between the two sides.

The CPC, Xi added, cherishes its friendship with the United Russia party, and hopes that the two parties will continue to strengthen institutionalized exchanges and cooperation, and contribute wisdom and strength to lifting China-Russia relations in the new era to higher levels and building a community with a shared future for mankind.